Out Of Left Field
by shockin'blueeyes
Summary: She was the oddest thing he had ever seen in his whole life, that was for sure, never mind that she was currently staring at him through those indescribable glasses from across the Great Hall. He tried to sneer at her, but she merely tilted her head.
1. Out Of Left Field

Written for the Gryffindor challenge in Hogwarts Online forum.

**Pairing:** Draco/Luna

**Premise:** Breakfast at the Great Hall

**Prompt:** out of left field

**Summary:**that girl was the oddest thing that he had ever seen, that was for sure, never mind that she was currently staring at him through those indescribable glasses.

Okay, so this works as a multi chaptered story, with one prompt for each chapter. I don't know where this story will lead, because I will be writing one chapter with one prompt before they give me another prompt, but I'll try my best to make the story coherent.

Sorry this chapter is a little bit short, the next ones will surely be longer.

Happy reading and don't forget to review!

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_Chapter 1_

Draco Malfoy was a highly suspicious person. Upon something new or surprising, he'd always suspect what was behind it, what was the hidden reason for it. And it wasn't an odd behaviour, since he was a Slytherin, after all. He was no different from his housemates, all of whom would suspect of anything that was out of the ordinary. In his mind, everything he learned had to be tested, he had to understand its logic and how it worked, make sure it hadn't anything hidden before he truly accepted it.

That was why he fought the urge to squirm uncomfortably in his seat at the strong stare of a certain Ravenclaw girl. That girl was the oddest thing he had ever seen, never mind that she was staring at him though those indescribable glasses that she seemed to always wear. It was completely out of left field, and he couldn't understand why she seemed so interested in him that day, and that made him incredibly suspicious. What did she want? She couldn't be staring at him for the sake of it. There had to be an ulterior motive, one he didn't understand, and it surely had something to do with the damn Golden Trio. She was friend with them, of that he was sure. She probably was observing, seeking to see his weaknesses.

He wasn't being paranoid, not at all, it just made him uneasy that someone could stare at him for the whole breakfast and still eat their breakfast without splashing it to the front of her robes. How she could manage to eat her toast without looking at it while amazing in its nature, was starting to freak him out. He. Couldn't. Understand. It.

He let out a frustrated grunt and proceeded to eat his breakfast, trying to wolf it down as quickly as he could without damaging his self image. Reputation was more important than the need to get out of there immediately.

But instead of drinking his tea with his eyes downcast as to avoid her glance, he looked back at her again, and regretted it instantly. White hot liquid poured down his front and he cursed, wand already drawn out and cleaning the mess. A few curious heads turned towards him, but he sneered at them, and they quickly averted their gaze. If only he could do that to the Loony girl. He tried to sneer her way, since shouting across the Great Hall what the hell she thought she was doing would draw too much attention, and it would look like he was staring at her too, and he didn't want people to think that, because it wasn't true. She seemed unaffected by the sneer, and she merely tilted her head, still staring at him. He nearly lost it right then and there. What was wrong with her? Why was she staring at him?

It wasn't a disrespectful stare, not even a longing stare, the one he often got from other Slytherin girls. It was just an overly curious stare, as if she was staring at a completely new specie. That was it. The Loony girl was known for inventing weird animal all the time, right? She probably thought one of them was on his shoulders or something. Yeah, that must be it. He quickly resumed to eating his breakfast, carefully replenishing his cup of tea and forcing himself to keep his eyes down and away from the horrible glasses. After the slight relief of understanding why she was staring at him, he was able to throw her a scornful glare as he raised from his seat and left the Great Hall, but he nearly collided with one of the oak doors when he realised she was still staring at him, body turned on her seat to look at him.

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Did you like it? Please tell me what you thought about it, it's my first Draco/Luna (well, there isn't much of that this chapter, but it'll come eventually, don't worry)

Please don't favourite without reviewing.


	2. Not Without A Fight

**Prompt:** not without a fight

**Summary:**No stares… Wait. Something prickled his skin, and he snapped his eyes open, lifting his head and scanning the grounds around him. A few students were scattered, probably doing the same thing as him (sprawling on the grass, not fleeing from stares, they were that lucky).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

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_Chapter 2_

The staring lasted two weeks. Two weeks of her staring at him at breakfast, not at lunch or dinner, which was odd (more odd than normal), and it drove him nearly over the edge of madness. Usually a morning person, now Draco Malfoy dreaded the moment he woke up, because it meant he had to go to breakfast and suffer the strange staring of Loony Lovegood. If she was staring at somebody else, it would have been fucking hilarious, but since she was staring at him, it wasn't even funny. What was her problem?

The explanation that he came up with the first morning just about tumbled down when she continued her staring during the week. Wouldn't the stupid animal have moved already? That's when he started to suspect she really was spying him for the Golden Trio. It wasn't a very subtle way to do it, and the only thing that she would be spying was how his possibilities to end up in St. Mungo's loony bin increased by the second. It really shouldn't bother him so much, he was a Slytherin after all, he didn't care about nut cases from other houses, but somehow he couldn't stop thinking about her grey eyes, the same colour as his, but yet so different. He had tried everything to ignore her gaze, but nothing worked: he even had seated at the seat across his normal one, but he still felt her eyes fixed on his nape, and when he turned back, he found her staring at him, so he resumed to his usual seat. It was highly unnerving, but he quickly discarded the idea of asking her what she thought she was doing. Someone would have seen, and Draco Malfoy wasn't supposed to talk to Loonies.

And then, just like that, the staring stopped. He had to do a double-take the morning he hastily dragged himself (but with dignity, of course) to the Great Dining Hall to take breakfast and the moment he seated he didn't feel her gaze on him. He looked up immediately, and his heart gave an inexplicable pang when he realised she was eating her toast looking at her plate. He stared at her the whole breakfast, but she didn't look at his direction once. Slightly disappointed, he went to Transfiguration, and that day he was extremely cruel with Potter. He deserved it anyway. It was only the next morning, when he once again stared at her the whole breakfast, wondering why she didn't look up from her plate that it downed on him, and instantly cold sweat began prickling down his back.

The girl had gotten what she wanted, she had figured out his weaknesses (whichever they were), and she had reported them to Potter. Bloody shit, Potter and the Weasel were now probably plotting ways to kill him! He stopped his staring for a second and breathed in, breathed out, trying to regain his calm. He was just being paranoid. Just being paranoid. The Loony girl was strange like that; it didn't mean anything that she didn't look at him anymore.

After a week, he couldn't take it one more second. He had been running in circles the whole week, chasing crazy idea after crazy idea, and he needed a break. He practically run out of the castle that afternoon and he quickly sprawled under a far tree, making sure that nobody was around. It was near the Forbidden Forest, but not near enough to be a part of the forest itself. He would drop dead before entering it again. He closed his eyes, his hands tucked under his head, enjoyed the peace and the quiet. No stares. No stares. He sighed contently, secretly glad that Crabbe and Goyle weren't there. He seemed to be spending a lot of time without them these days. Oh, never mind, they weren't that entertaining anyway. No stares… Wait. Something prickled his skin, and he snapped his eyes open, lifting his head and scanning the grounds around him. A few students were scattered, probably doing the same thing as him (sprawling on the grass, not fleeing from stares, they were that lucky). He was about to close his eyes again when he looked upwards and almost had a heart attack. There, seated between two thick branches, was Loony Lovegood, staring at him. He scrambled up, looking at her with fury. She seemed mildly amused, and that infuriated him more.

'Who do you think you are?' he asked, his voice almost a growl.

'Luna Lovegood, fourth year, Ravenclaw. You?' her tone wasn't mockery, it was in fact a very kind one, but it did nothing to placate his anger. She had the nerve to derange him for two weeks with no reason and then still dare to creep at him while he was trying to relax?

'What do you think you're doing?' he asked, ignoring her question. He was getting his answers now. Still better, there was no one there to tell on him if she talked to her.

'Well, I was just trying to see the new babies of the Trinklish Fulier, father says they have particularly bright colours on this season, when you arrived here and you lied on the ground. You looked quite peaceful, I'm truly sorry to have disturbed your rest' he stared up at her, mouth open like a fish, which wasn't a very Slytherin thing to do. After a second of perplexity he sneered at her.

'Loony, I don't care about your stupid fantasies' her face didn't fall one bit, as it was supposed to. She just gracefully jumped back onto the floor (for a moment he swore he saw her knickers, but that thought died instantly. He was NOT supposed to think of Loony's knickers), straightening her skirt and then smiling up at him.

'It was good to see you, Draco. I hope to see you tomorrow at breakfast.'

And she skipped back to the castle, her long hair waving behind her. He stared at her retreating form, and then realised that he hadn't asked her why she looked at him at breakfast. He lied again carefully on the ground, trying to clear his mind and wipe off his face the bemused sort of look he surely had. He needed to find out why she stared at him. If she was decided on driving him to insanity, he wouldn't go down without a fight. Not without a fight.

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Hope you liked it; next chapter will be up soon!

And for the love of Salazar's most prized woollen socks, REVIEW!


	3. Blood Sweat And Tears

**Prompt:** Blood, sweat and tears.

**Summary:**he got up and walked back to the castle, not daring to look back. He didn't know what he would do if she was staring back. Probably something stupid, totally unSlytherin like. Probably. When it came to Luna Lovegood, he had decided he could never be sure of anything.

Disclaimer: I'm really flattered about the confusion, but I'm not J.K. Rowling, therefore I don't own anything.

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_Chapter 3_

'So the stupid mudblood just went and- Draco, are you even listening to me?' Zabini huffed impatiently and looked at him, eyebrow raised. Draco quickly shook his head to clear his mind and directed his gaze to Zabini, who snorted. 'Man, what's wrong with you?'

Malfoy shrugged.

'Nothing. Homework'

Zabini eyed him carefully, and then began talking again about whatever he was talking. Something about a mudblood. Or maybe it was about the mud on the Quidditch pitch. Who knew? Malfoy hadn't listened to a word Zabini had said, he was too focused on not looking at the Ravenclaw table. He couldn't look, not now anyway, Zabini would surely notice, and if he did, Malfoy was definitely screwed.

He looked down at his tea and then back at Zabini, blinking hard several times so as to concentrate. It was useless. His mind kept wandering back to the same thing, a thing that scared him senseless: the butter beer corks necklace she wore that day. It was really confusing him why a person would own that, even less put it on for everyone to see. But it was Loony Lovegood; so again, it wasn't really out of the ordinary. But today was the first day she'd worn that necklace for almost a week, and it… Stop! What was he doing thinking about her? About her stupid necklace? He stabbed his bacon with a little bit more force than necessary, and beside him, Zabini raised and eyebrow, still talking about some nonsense, but didn't comment. He probably had gotten used to Draco's strange behaviour the lasts weeks.

It was true he had been behaving strangely for a few weeks, but it wasn't because he hated the Umbridge toad, or because he was busy with homework. Ever since his encounter with Luna, he had found it rather hard to concentrate on something without her image popping up in his mind ten seconds after. Rather enervating, if you asked him, but it was even more enervating that she kept staring at him at breakfast, and this time there weren't two week lapses. She had been staring at him for almost a month and a half now, never missing a day, not even Sundays, and he was sure he was developing some kind of neck problem from keeping his head down so much. It wasn't that he didn't want to look at her, which he didn't, it was just that when he looked at her he would inevitably spill or drop whatever he was holding, so it was better to avoid the humiliation all together by just not looking at her.

Really easy, right? No, not at all.

The thing was that her gaze was, in the absence of other words, magnetic and hypnotic at the same time, and therefore very difficult to avoid.

Nibbling carefully on his bacon, he thought about the teasing he would be submitted to if this, whatever it was, got out. His behaviour was so not Slytherin-like that he hated himself: a Slytherin would never brood over meaningless and crazy stares, he would brush it off like he brushed off mudbloods and other unpleasant things, and with the typical determination of his house, work to keep his mind in other things (that weren't her necklace or how her hair was long and shiny and blond… Stop it!).

He got up from his seat with more enthusiasm than necessary, and Zabini threw him what could be the fiftieth suspicious glance that breakfast, but he did not mind. Walking rather quickly (but not running, he had to preserve his dignity) out of the Great Hall, and breaking into a run when he was sure nobody was around, he got out of the castle and towards a big tree near Hagrid's hut. It wasn't the same he had been under when he saw Luna, and he made sure to look up and make sure nobody was hiding amongst the branches. He breathed out deeply and seated with his back pressing against the trunk, his breath coming out in a light fog. It was near November now, and the weather had started to get colder, now raining most of the nights, leaving the sky grey during the day. Grey like her eyes, those eyes that always seemed to find his, those eyes with the curiosity etched on them… Stop! See? His own mind betrayed him, redirecting him time and time again to her!

It was costing him blood, sweat and tears to not cry out in frustration right now, and he found his self-restrain more strained when the next second a voice in front of him said.

'Hey, you really shouldn't be out here with a the weather like this. You could fall ill' he didn't acknowledge the new person in any way except by banging his head softly against the trunk.

'What are you doing here, Loony?'

'There's no need to call me Loony, Draco, we're alone here, so you can say my name, I won't tell anyone you've talked with me' he opened his eyes and peeked at her, not missing that she hadn't answered his question. She was sitting cross legged in front of him, her long hair falling on one shoulder.

He banged his head again on the trunk, this time less softly. He needed to get a grip and stop thinking about her.

'Why do you stare at me at breakfast?' he asked, but she simply shrugged.

'I find you interesting'

'Interesting?' his voice was full of incredulity. She nodded, but remained silent. He closed his eyes again, suddenly realising it was much more difficult not to stare at her now that she was merely five feet apart. Entirely too close.

They stayed in silence for a while, and she started to hum something to herself.

'What are you humming?' he asked. Why did he ask? He didn't care what the hell she was humming!

'It's a melody to scare away the Nargles, the little animals that come in through your ears and cloud your mind. There are a lot here, and father says that if you hum a slow song they will-'

'Okay, Luna, stop, you're messing with my mind' he cut her off, rubbing his eyes. 'Just- Urgh, I'm leaving' and without another word he got up and walked back to the castle, not daring to look back. He didn't know what he would do if she was staring back. Probably something stupid, totally unSlytherin like. Probably.

When it came to Luna Lovegood, he had decided he could never be sure of anything.

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Liked it? Next chapter will be up in… soon, but please review this chapter, okay?


	4. Lost And Found

**Prompt:** Lost and found

**Summary:**Time in the library is bound to be interesting.

**PurplePumpkin12:** here is your update. Hope is soon enough ;)

**StarMimi**: another (hopefully) great chapter

**Team-JEdward2010:** hey, thanks for reading this story too! You're like a regular reader of my work, for which I'm extremely thankful. Hope like this chapter.

**Misty McMist Monster**: I know, it was extremely random, but I think I'm managing quite well with the prompts. I usually don't write much Draco, but lately he's been popping into my head, so I had to write it.

Disclaimer: Yes, actually, I own everything. (Just kidding).

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_Chapter 4_

With Christmas approaching fast and weather getting steadily worse, Draco couldn't go to clear his mind under a tree no more, due to the three feet of snow covering the grounds and the insane amount of homework they had. Therefore, he found himself spending more and more time in the library, trying to improve his marks to get ahead of the stupid Granger girl. He sometimes even skipped breakfast as so to have more time for studying. It didn't have anything to do with the Luna girl, it truly didn't.

He hadn't seen much of her since their brief talk under that tree, now weeks ago. He of course still saw her at breakfast, and even though he would never confess it, not even under torture, he had begun to enjoy her stares. They were something so unpredictable, and so out of the ordinary that he couldn't help but embrace them. At least there were a change from his boring routine.

But he had also begun to notice something more about her past her stares. He had begun to marvel at the way her hair shone and looked so perfectly kept, and how her lips seemed always set in a dreamy smile. And he hadn't had a problem with liking her stares (okay, maybe a little bit), but the rest was just too much. He desperately needed to stop running in circles.

'Hello Draco' the calm voice made him jump about a foot in the air, knocking down his ink bottle, which splashed all over the library floor. He looked up to see Luna smiling down at him, books in her hands and her wand behind her ear. 'Mind if I seat here?' she asked, pointing to the sit across from him. He looked back at his transfiguration essay, the one he had fallen sleep on, and then up at her, completely at a loss of what to say. Before he could order his still sleepy mind to form coherent words, she had already taken a seat and spread her books on the table. She took out a quill and an ink bottle from her robes and laid down a new parchment in front of her.

'No, you can't sit here! What if someone saw…' he felt a cold panic starting to rise up his spine, and he looked around, trying to spot someone, but the library was empty. No surprise, as it was just half past seven in the morning, and classes wouldn't start for another two hours.

'There's nobody here' she stated, and he looked back at her, unable to comprehend why she was sitting there and not in her usual spot near the door. She didn't look at him, and instead started writing her essay, and for what he could read, it was also for Transfiguration. He subtly started to look at her, forgetting his essay. It was for the next week anyway.

She was staring at her parchment and then at her book, nibbling the end of her quill. At the sight of this, he felt the urge to look away, instead looking at the title of her essay. Potions. He chuckled inwardly. Everybody who wasn't Slytherin seemed to have problems in Potions for some reason. Before he could stop himself he had opened his mouth and said.

'Do you need help?' his mouth fell open at his statement, and her head snapped up, seemingly also startled.

'Why, Draco, that's extremely kind from you, thank you. I would have never thought you'd offer to help someone' she gently turned her essay and signalled at one sentence with her quill, but he didn't look at it, instead racking his brains to find some suitable excuse to get himself away from the hole he had dug by himself. Why, why in Merlin's most sacred pants did he have to ask her in she needed help? That was literally against everything he had been taught. Help other Slytherins, of course he could, but any other house? Why on earth would he do that?

He had to have gone officially bonkers, because he couldn't find any way to take the words back. And something in the back of his mind was whispering that he really didn't want to find any excuse.

And not for the first time in that year (which preoccupied immensely), he acted totally unSlytherin-like and bent over to point where she had written something wrong. When her essay was finished, she rolled up the parchment and smiled at him, and it wasn't that dreamy smile she always wore, it was a grateful smile, one he didn't see to often directed at him.

'Thanks Draco, you've been a great help' she started to put her books back in her bag, which he noticed was covered in small drown animals.

'O-Okay' he said, still stunned by his later behaviour.

'You know, Draco? Some people say you're a bad guy, but I think they're wrong.' She got up from the table. 'Maybe you should be this nice to everyone more often, it really suits you' she absentmindedly tucked a strand of long hair behind her ear. 'My mother used to say that when you're nice to someone, it's like when you find something you had lost and found, it makes you incredibly happy' and with that she left the library. Somewhere in the distance, a bell signalling the beginning of classes rang off, and he quickly snatched back his scattered papers, shoving them in the bag and running to his first class, Charms. When he sat besides Blaise at the end at the class and ran a hand through his face, sighing. Blaise looked at him, and his brow furrowed.

'Mate, are you okay? You've been acting kinda off lately, you didn't come to breakfast this morning, and now you just look like you did something terrible' Draco gulped and Blaise rose both his eyebrows. 'You didn't do anything terrible, did you?'

Draco breathed in and out, trying to put in order the events of the last hours.

'Maybe'

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Hoped you liked it, I did my best!

Please review!


	5. Hope Rekindled

**Prompt:** hope rekindled

**Summary:**There was a rather awkward pause, in which all hopes he had about not thinking of her flew out of the proverbial window

Sorry it took me so long to update! I had sort of a writer's block all week, I' ppromise I'll post the next chapter soon.

Thanks for all the reviews!

**Team-JEdward2010**: mmm, I don't think he loves her... yet! ;)

**PurplePumpkin12: **sorry about the lateness of the update! The next one will be up soon, I promise!

**SweetNJuiceX0: **yeah, I don't do much luna/draco either, but I'm getting addicted to it somehow... ;)

Disclaimer: Yes, actually, I own everything. (Just kidding).

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_Chapter 5_

A feeling of impeding doom had settled itself in Hogwarts, or at least that's what Draco thought. He had the distinct impression that something bad was going to jump out of nowhere and hurl itself at him. Ever since he had helped Luna (yeah, she was Luna now, Loony didn't seem right anymore) in the library, he had held a raging battle with himself every time he saw her, which by the way wasn't very often, with the insane preparation O.W.L.s needed, and the fair amount of time she disappeared from sight. He didn't know where she was, but he had a very good idea it had something to do with Potter.

With one thing and another, the Christmas holidays were fast approaching, and he wasn't nearer to find a solution to his problem more than he was a month before. Thing was, he didn't quite understand what was the problem. So, okay, a strange girl ogled him at breakfast and talked with him in the library, so? It shouldn't be a problem, he should feel flattered. So why did it still felt wrong? Maybe it was the tiny little detail that the girl was the official Hogwarts loony, that she was a Lovegood, almost as bad as a blood traitor as the Weasleys, and that she was vague as hell. Or maybe it was the fact that she wasn't half bad in the looks department.

His father would throw a fit and his mother probably would burst a vessel if he came home with Lovegood, not that he intended to do so, of course, that would be completely unreasonable.

Sitting by the fireplace in the Slytherin common room, he shuddered, even if he was less than two feet from the green flames, and not particularly with cold.

He needed to stop thinking about Luna. It brought him nothing, and he had far more pressing matters to attend to, like finishing his stupid assignment for Potions. He was having trouble with the ingredients for a more sophisticated Sleeping Draught. Sleeping Draught… the one Luna had had trouble with, before he helped her… Stop it!

He threw the parchment to the other side of the couch, swearing loudly.

'Why, Malfoy, you should try and pull yourself together before you get a seizure' drawled a voice behind him.

'Shut up Nott.' He answered, looking straight ahead. Nott was particularly good in figuring people out, and he didn't want to be taunted by him. A heavy weight plunked down besides him, and he sighed. 'Nott…'

'What is this? You're having problems with Potions? Unbelievable!' Draco growled and tried to snatch back his parchment. He was really not in the mood for this. Especially with the only person he couldn't outwit. Nott chuckled, but gave him back his parchment.

'Where is Zabini?' he asked, and Nott shrugged.

'With the Inquisitorial Squad?'

'Oh yeah, it's true. Oh… shit' Draco jumped up, crumpling the parchment and throwing it into the fireplace, whose flames raised a little and then subsided.

He had forgotten he had Inquisitorial meeting… oh bloody hell, he needed a good excuse for the toad… Well, bugger that, he'd catch some unsuspecting first years in the corridors and bring them to interrogation.

Finding students proved to be a more difficult task than expected. He had roamed the empty corridors for ten minutes before he saw someone, and not particularly one he wanted to see.

She skipped towards him, and he had the sudden urge to hide behind a suit of armour, just in case someone doubled the corner and got the wrong idea of him standing in the middle of the corridor and her skipping to him. That wouldn't go well. However, she arrived to his side before he could take a step, and in her annoyingly calm voice, asked.

'How are you?' he sneered.

'Like I'm going to tell you' it was annoyingly easy not to add Loony at the end of the sentence. She wrinkled her nose, but didn't say anything. There was a rather awkward pause, in which all hopes he had about not thinking of her flew out of the proverbial window. She had her long her twisted in some sort of unkempt bun, half of it fell down her back. It really suited her.

'Do you like it? It's a special one for keeping away the Nargles.' He tried to come up with a witty remark, but the sound died in his throat. The corridor had begun to fill with the students, probably out of the library or something, and he quickly walked to them, catching two by the collar.

'You are coming to be submitted to interrogation by the Hogwarts High Inquisitor' he was steering them from the crowd, when he heard an annoyingly familiar voice.

'What are you doing, Malfoy? They haven't done anything' Draco raised an aristocratic eyebrow.

'Be careful, Potter. You could be the one being interrogated soon' behind Potter, the Weasel frowned. Already turning away, Draco added. 'And ten points from Gryffindor because you're bloody ugly, Weasel. Really, you're a damage for the sight.'

When he entered the toad's office with the two terrified second years, he saw the whole of the Inquisitorial squad dozing off under the extremely toady voice of Umbridge, who nodded appreciatively at his capture and then motioned for him to sit down.

He quickly sat down besides Zabini, suddenly thinking of something that rekindled his hope. If he was in a comatose stupor from the toad's speeches, he wouldn't be able to think in nothing else, right?

How very wrong he was.

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Sort of a filling chapter, because I just didn't know what to do with the prompt. The real action will begin next chapter, promised.

In the meantime, review!


	6. Truth Will Out

**Prompt:** truth will out

**Summary: **He needed to talk with her, ask her where was she going every Monday at seven, and why in the hell did she kept staring at him during breakfast. That bullshit about him being interesting should have worn off months ago. He needed to ask her to stop being so entrancing, to stop having such an hypnotic stare, to stop taking care of her hair so well, because it was just distracting.

**Team-JEdward2010: **here you go, next chapter!

**inestocatelospies: **ajajaj, me encanto tu review, gracias x valorar mi esfuerzo... la verdad es q sta es una de mis mejores historias pero la mejor sin duda es la trilogia española, que son los tres fics: Invisible, Transparent y unseen. Leete esos, son los mejores.

**SweetNJuicyX0: **is this update soon enough? ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, much to my chagrin.

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_Chapter 6_

Life is unexpected, you can never know what it will have in store for you, and things that seemed set in stone are just dust the following day. If he had known better, that week wouldn't have gone so bad… but now, thinking back, maybe it would have.

The aforementioned week started one cloudy and gloomy evening (okay, the week technically started a cloudy and gloomy morning, but let's just pretend, alright?), after dinner, when the halls were emptying of students.

Draco peered over the corner, watching her skip through the corridor, her long blond hair waving behind her. He resisted the urge to stare at her for too long and followed suit when she rounded the corner. He had been following her since she left the Great Hall.

No, not that way!

He was just following her to find out where she went once a week that always brought her to the same part of the castle. It was just Inquisitorial squad work, only that. It wasn't as he was concerned for her, for she might be in trouble or something like that. No, not at all. He didn't get concerned over the well-being of lunatic Ravenclaws. Doubling the corner, he hid behind a suit of armour. He was lucky the corridors were empty; he didn't think he could stand the humiliation. Malfoys never hid. He poked his head out from behind the suit of armour, spying the corridor ahead of him. It was empty.

'What in Merlin…?' he couldn't understand it. She was there a second ago! Where had she gone?

He walked along the corridor, looking round, a bemused expression on his face. He couldn't understand where she had vanished. After ten minutes of pacing outside, he gave up and headed back to the dungeons. On his way to the common room he took twenty points from Gryffindor just because he wanted to. It was a good method to vent frustration, but the problem was still there.

The next two days he racked his brain to find an explanation, and it drove him to such state of stress he almost snapped at McGonagall during class. He didn't even know why he was making such a big deal out of something so simple like a girl vanishing in the middle of the corridor. It was well-known Hogwarts had many secret passages, and she might had taken one to the library or something.

He believed he had solved the mystery and hoped his stress levels deflated before he bit someone's head off just for looking at him, but by Wednesday he was still in such a state that it reminded him of when he nearly went nutters a few months ago, when the stares began.

During Wednesday breakfast, when he was trying to eat his eggs and bacon without making it blatantly obvious he wasn't listening to Zabini's conversation, and was instead shooting furtive glances at the blonde in the Ravenclaw table, who was staring at him and eating her breakfast at the same time, when he decided this couldn't go on. He needed to talk with her, ask her where was she going every Monday at seven, and why in the hell did she kept staring at him during breakfast. That bullshit about him being interesting should have worn off months ago. He needed to ask her to stop being so entrancing, to stop having such an hypnotic stare, to stop taking care of her hair so well, because it was just distracting, and his grades had done nothing but fall since he couldn't think of nothing more than five minutes without her face popping into his mind.

When she stood up, he gingerly set aside his plate and followed her, briefly noticing that the Christmas decorations were already up. He avoided a group of Slytherin seven years and practically sprinted out of the Great Hall. Damn, that girl walked fast. He thought of shouting at her to stop, but thought better of it. It would drive too much attention, and he didn't want that. He sped up and caught her just after the first flight of stairs, grabbing her arm and yanking her into a dusty corridor.

'Draco?' her voice had a curious tone.

'Luna, tell me what do you do Mondays at seven' he hurried it out of his mouth, knowing he didn't have much time before people began swarming the corridors towards their first lessons.

'I'm sorry Draco, but I can' tell you' she whispered, like she also feared someone might hear them. It was in that moment that he registered in what position they were. Her back pressed against a wall, their bodies were almost touching and he had his hand tightly secured around her left forearm. He jumped apart, practically stumbling to the other side of the corridor. When he had secured his footing, he noticed she was looking up at the ceiling, and he followed her gaze, eyes widening in horror at what could have happened had he moved a few feet to the right. In the middle of the corridor hung mistletoe.

Still starstruck by the sight of the mistletoe, he stared at her when she pointed at the green leaves.

'Oh, look, it's full of Nargles'

'What?' his voice was unusually high pitched, and he tried to pull himself together, trying to forget that he had just narrowly missed ending under a mistletoe with Luna Lovegood a few seconds ago.

'You seem flustered. Are you okay?'

'No, I'm not bloody okay!' he nearly shouted, walking towards her again, but stopping a good three feet away from her. 'Lovegood, tell me what do you do on Monday's evening!' she kept her mouth tightly closed, and he continued. 'Tell me why do you keep staring at me at breakfast, and don't bloody tell me it's because I'm interesting!' he took a step backwards. 'And while you're at it, why don't you stop taking care of your hair' It's distracting! And stop being so hypnotic, for Merlin's sake!' he stopped abruptly, suddenly aware of what he had just shouted. Shouted. He looked back at her and nearly screaming in frustration when all he found in her face was a smirk.

'I knew it' she said, and he paled.

'Knew what?' he wasn't sure he wanted to know it.

'That you're different from what you appear. You aren't perfect, Malfoy, and there's nothing wrong with it. I have said it before, and I say it again' she took a step forwards, and he instinctively took one back. 'You are not a bad person' she smirked again at his stupefied face and then began skipping towards the stairs again. He stood there, a hand in his chest, trying to control the frantic beating of his heart, and wondering where in the bloody hell had his composure gone to. He stared at the mistletoe, and the sudden realisation made him come reeling backwards into the wall, his eyes widening the size of saucer plates.

No.

No, it couldn't be.

Not in the bloody name of Merlin' most prized socks.

He, Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin prince, could _not_ have a crush on her, Luna Lovegood, the official Ravenclaw crazy girl. He couldn't. There should be another explanation as to why he couldn't keep her out of his head. That couldn't be the reason he didn't quite catch his breath when she was around, the reason her hair held such appeal and her eyes seemed to bore holes into his mind at breakfast.

That wasn't the reason! It was just a silly obsession, it was just… the weirdness of the girl, her mysterious ways and even more mysterious demeanour. It was just curiosity, it would wear off in…

Who was he trying to fool? It was a very difficult thing to lie to yourself when you had been learning all your life to detect lies and use them at your advantage.

He began numbly walking to his common room to retrieve his books, dimly aware that his first class was Transfiguration and that he couldn't be late, or McGonagall might break something.

He tried to deny it to himself a little bit more, but he knew it was futile: all the proof was there, and there was little he could do about it, unless it was concealing his *_cough*_ crush *_cough*_ on her, which wasn't such a bad idea, things considered. He lived his life pretending, didn't he? He was a Slytherin after all, he could fool everyone. There was no way the truth will out someday.

It better not.

* * *

Did you liked it? I personally liked it more than the last chapter, but, hey, that's just my opinion.

The next chapter might take a little longer, but don't worry, it'll be up sometime next week.


	7. Fight Or Flight

**Prompt:** fight or flight

**Summary: **Draco sighed, running his quill through the parchment, writing away without even thinking about it. When he finished that line he looked down and stared at what he had done. Oh, crap.

Okay, so I have like four prompts left and then it's over, but it doesn't fit in my story line, so I'll just continue picking prompts from the daily challenge. Just thought you should know.

**LuvlsAThing: **thanks! And of course I will continue, probably even when I don't get more prompts.

**Team-JEdward2010: **hahaha, glad you like it!

**PurplePumpkin12: **Sorry for the late update! I feel horrible for making you wait such a long time!

**XDracoMalfoysGirlX: **Thanks! I had a hard time trying to write the last chapter, I'm glad my effort has paid off!

**princessozmaofoz: **haha, it made me laugh too. :)

**Mionexx: **hahaha, the good part it's just starting! ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nada. Rien.

* * *

_Chapter 7_

History of Magic was torture. It really was. Why in Merlin's beard did a ghost want a three foot essay of the Goblin rebellions in the nineteenth century? It wasn't even their nineteenth century, it was something like their thirtieth!

Draco sighed, running his quill through the parchment, writing away without even thinking about it. When he finished that line he looked down and stared at what he had done. Oh, crap.

He got out his wand and furiously began to erase all the line, praying to all the Gods he knew nobody came over and saw what he had written. Seriously, writing something that looked suspiciously like _Luna Lovegood _all over his essay was really stupid. What was he, a crazed hormonal teenager? Oh, yeah, right, he was exactly that.

'Damn, damn, damn'

'What's the problem, Draco?' his wand froze over his essay and he looked up, glaring at the person standing in front of him.

'Nothing of your interest, Blaise' Blaise raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything, instead sitting in front of Draco, and his gut gave an unpleasant squeeze when he remembered who had sat on that chair before Blaise.

'Having trouble with your homework?' Blaise asked, craning his neck to look at his parchment. God, he could be such a pain in the ass sometimes.

'Sod off, it's nothing important.' He quickly tucked away the essay, and then began to put away his things.

'If you say so…' Blaise said, looking at his bag, as though he had x-ray vision and could see through the fabric. Uneasy, Draco clutched the bag tighter.

'What do you want?' he snapped, and Blaise's eyebrows rose higher.

'Merlin, chill out. I just wanted to know what are you doing next Hogsmeade weekend. There's a new broom shop near Zonko's, and father's said is worth checking it out' Draco nodded curtly.

'Okay then' and without a goodbye, Draco hurried out of the library, still clutching his bag tightly, as though it might burst alive and try to run away from him. A group of second years passed in front of him, and he sneered at them. The terrified students quickly made a mad dash to the library.

'Must be Ravenclaws, if they hide in the library' he scoffed and put on a satisfied smirk. However, as soon as he turned the corner and came out of view shot, the satisfied smirk faded from his lips.

Ever since his apocalyptic realisation in the first floor corridor, he had been living with an increasing sort of paranoia, very similar to the one he had been living with before he admitted, his, umm, crush on Luna. Maybe that had been the denial state. But, wouldn't the denial state had worn off as soon as he admitted it to himself? Because if not, he was seriously missing something there. What did he have to do? Jump on top of a table at breakfast and announce to the world he had a crush on the lunatic girl? He shuddered at the thought of actually doing that.

What did he have to do, though? Because he as sure as hell wasn't feeling any of the supposedly liberating feelings that left you on cloud nine for several weeks, nor he was feeling the giddiness that Pansy had told him last year was associated with a crush. Not that he actually listened to anything Pansy said, but sometimes he caught snippets of her conversation, and he was a Slytherin after all, he kept every bit of information, just in case it was useful and he could use to his advantage.

But now that bit of information only confused him. Where the hell was the giddiness? Her daily breakfast stares didn't make him blush or stutter, and he didn't trip over anything when he saw her.

Making a sharp turn on one corner, he didn't realise it until it was too late.

Papers flew everyway, and he was sure an ink bottle had broken, because a liquid splashed the side of his face. Anger boiling, he jerked up, mentally preparing the string of insults the person who had made him fall was going to take. The words died in his throat, however, and he did a kind of chocking noise when he realised who was in front of him.

Really? The castle probably had hundreds of thousands of corners, and he had to turn one that had Luna Lovegood on the other side. Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant. It couldn't have been Potter and his friends, or even a Hufflepuff he could make fun of, no, it had to be the girl he harboured feelings for. Bloody fan-tas-tic.

'Hello Draco. Sorry I pushed you' she said, crouching on the floor and gathering the books that had fallen from her arms. He didn't dignify that with a response, though he too crouched down and began to reassemble the parchments lying around. She reached to take a parchment that had rolled to her feet, and seeing the crumpled up parchment, he felt a cold sweat run down his back.

'No!' he lunched forwards and grabbed the parchment, wrenching it from Luna's grasp. She didn't seem the little bit surprised as he hastily jammed the parchment in his bag. He looked down at it, seeing the big splash of blue ink over its front, and he started to reprimand her for dirtying his bag. It had been a very expensive bag.

'Hey Lovegood, do you know how much- what the bloody hell?' he stopped mid sentence, for when he looked back up he almost had a heart attack. She was mere inches from him, looking intently at his face. He stiffed, looking into her impossibly blue eyes, his mind screaming feebly to get away. Slowly, she raised a hand to his face, and for a wild moment he thought she was gonna slap him, just to think the next second she was gonna cup his face. But all she did was touch his cheek delicately, as if touching something incredibly valuable that could break at any moment. He felt slightly dazed at her touch.

'You have ink on your cheek' she stated, and he snapped out of a trance, his eyes looking at her fingers, who were now tinted with blue. In an automatic movement he drew his sleeve to his cheek, trying to clean it, but she stopped him gently, grabbing his wrist. It did nothing to help his dazed mind. She took out her wand, and there it was, the wild moment in which he thought she was gonna curse him, but instead she just brought the wand to his cheek and muttered an incantation. He felt a warm feeling against his cheek, and then she brought up her hand again, cleaning it with the same spell before touching lightly his cheek again and smiling, her dreamy smile, that is. He really shouldn't be allowing this much touching. Specially by Luna. Specially by her.

And just as quickly as it had come, the daze in his mind disappeared when he heard voices coming round the corner. He jumped away from her as if she was fire, and quickly turned on the spot, so it appeared that he was just going a way and her the other.

He didn't dare turn to look at her face, but he convinced himself instead that he didn't turn to avoid the voices from the corridor seeing him.

Back to self-lying, aren't we? A little voice in his head said, but he ignored it.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

Next morning at breakfast he was still berating himself for not acting more Slytherin like the last day when he felt her gaze on him, and he looked up from his plate, staring back at her from across the table. After a few seconds, he looked down to butter his toast, and then munching on it, looking back up. He needed a more accurate plan of action if he wanted to get out alive of this year. He couldn't just wander around the castle carelessly and therefore find her in every corner, that'd blew up his cover in less than a week. Maybe if he…

'Draco?' he looked to his right, to where Theodore Nott had his hand extended and his eyebrow raised 'Care to pass the butter?' he said, and Draco quickly passed him the butter, and then resumed his silent planning.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

It was almost a week later, and Draco still had no definitive plan, so he had just been avoiding her all along until he sorted all and could continue his normal life. Well, almost normal, seeing as he had a crush on the official Hogwarts nut case. He entered his dorm, dropping his bag in his bed and greeting Theodore and Blaise with a curt nod. Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere in sight, but far better, he was tired, and their stupidity was the last thing he wanted to endure.

He made a quick visit to the bathroom, intending to go then to the common room with Blaise, but when he got out he was gone.

'Where's Blaise?' he asked.

'Gone to the library. He forgot something.' replied Theo. That sounded like a lame excuse, even for Blaise, but Draco didn't comment. Blaise would have is reasons.

He made to open the dorm room so he could go down to the common room and finish the damned History of Magic essay, but Theo talked, and in a tone that made it clear that it had nothing to do with the earlier conversation

'Draco, you know these things never end well, you're too different' Draco turned around, staring at him. He was standing by his bed, leaning in one of the posts of his bed.

'I'm sorry, what?'

Theo gave him a pointed look,

'All I'm saying is you could do better, so much better. And besides, it would never work.' a daunting feeling of foreboding had settled upon his chest, but he shrugged it off, convincing himself Theo wasn't talking about what Draco thought he was talking. He couldn't.

'Whatever you say, Nott, whatever you say' he made to open the door again, but a derisive laugh stopped him, and he turned around again.

'Don't play the fool, Draco, you're lousy at it' Draco opened his mouth to talk, but Theo raised a hand, and he closed his mouth, though inside him his heart had begun to beat rather frantically. 'I've talked with Blaise, and from what I've heard, it's pretty obvious, I don't understand how nobody has caught up already, well, except me'

Please let it be some crazy theory about Blaise being gay or something equally stupid, please let it be that, please, please.

'Theo, I don't know what the bloody hell you're talking about. And even if I did, I don't really understand why do you have to be so cryptic about it' this time he managed to open the door, but Theo's next words seemed to froze his very bones.

'I know Draco. I know about your crush on Lovegood. And if it doesn't stop soon, I won't shut up about it'

It seemed to come out of nowhere, but Draco suddenly thought about something he had heard somewhere. It was about how humans reacted when faced with danger. They could turn their back on everything and run for the hills, or they could stay and fight it out.

And even when his mind was blocked, and his body seemed half-frozen, when he turned to look at Theo, a look of shock on his face, three simple words, the three words that summed up that human reaction, filled his mind.

Fight or flight?

* * *

Heheheh, poor Draco.

Next chapter will be up… definitely somewhere before Christmas, because I hate not updating in so long


	8. Common Ground

**Prompt:** common ground

**Summary:**He then turned to her parchment and like the last time, pointed out things that were wrong, and she corrected them. But even if it was a perfect copy of their last time at the library, it was completely different, at least for him.

Sorry for the long wait, I promise I'll try to update more often, but I've got three other stories going on, and I have homework too… nevertheless, I'll try to update every two weeks!

Don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: My name's not J.K. Rowling, therefore I don't own anything.

* * *

_Chapter 8_

'You wouldn't'

The first sentence that escaped his lips when he finally got his voice back had fear engraved in every one of the letters.

'I will, if you don't stop' came Theo's response, and Draco turned around.

'Nott…' he started menacingly, but Theo snorted.

'Come on Draco, chill down, won't you? I'm just doing what's best for you'

'Doing what's best for me?' Draco shouted. 'You are not my freaking father!' Theo just smirked.

'Speaking about fathers, I wonder what would your father say if someone tells him you're in love with Lovegood.'

'I am not in love with her! So shut the hell up!' he was quickly loosing his composure, and he had to take in several calming breaths. Why was that happening to him? What had he done to deserve it? Why couldn't he have been more careful? 'And what is your problem? When did you start caring about who I like or don't like?'

'Well, let's see. Maybe when the girl you've got the hots for is in league with Potter, is a bloody lunatic, and creeps out half of Slytherin with her weird stares at breakfast'

The blood ran cold in his veins and he staggered a few steps back.

'You noticed?' Draco asked in a feeble voice. Theo laughed.

'Of course we noticed it! But don't worry, I doubt any one else has noticed she only looks at you.'

'That's… that's not true'

'What part? That she only looks at you or did I'm the only one that has noticed it? Apart Blaise, of course, but he won't say anything.'

Draco let out a minuscule breath of relief. At least Blaise wasn't going to say anything. Theo advanced towards him and in a terrifying steady voice, said.

'It's up to you, Draco. Or you give up on your childish crush, or you conceal it better. The slightest sign' he added, already going out of the door 'And I will tell.'

'And why should I do what you say?' he shouted back, and from the bottom of the stairs, he heard a hearty laugh.

'Because this doesn't concern your reputation anymore. What do you think the Dark Lord would say, what your father would say, if he knew?'

Draco shut the door with a slam and rubbed his arms, but from something very different from cold.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

He walked purposefully down the corridor, followed by the rest of the Inquisitorial Squad. Umbridge was before him, a cheerful spring in her step, and her wand drawn out.

A Ravenclaw girl had just told them were Potter and the rest of his friends snuck to two days per week, giving them the location of the Room of Requirement, something he thought was just a school legend, but turned out to be very real indeed. He could just savour the triumph in his mouth, finally, Potter was gonna pay, and along with him, all his stupid supporters…

His mouth went rather dry at that thought.

Damn, Potter's supporters.

Luna was one of them. Oh crap, oh shit.

He started to walk more quickly, trying to get a bit ahead so when they entered the room he could see her before the others. He didn't know what he was doing, or what he was going to do, he just knew Luna couldn't get caught. Umbridge had been babbling about what she was going to do with the rebels when she got hold of them, and thinking about Luna suffering the punishment just made his insides churn.

Suddenly Theo's words rang inside his head, as clearly as if he had been standing there beside him. He gulped and looked around, just to make sure Nott wasn't there, because he would figure out what Draco was planning to do in an instant. Luckily, Theo hadn't joined the Inquisitorial Squad, and as the stopped in front of the wall, he gulped again, his heart bumping against his ribcage.

Umbridge jerked her head to the side, and two members of the Inquisitorial Squad stepped forwards and began shouting spells at the wall, which trembled. Draco looked around, trying to keep his face impassive, and cursing the heavens at the same time. What was he going to? He couldn't do anything for her, he realised, there was no escape, and plus, it was her own choice, she was a smart girl, surely she knew what se had gotten into when she joined the stupid club, whatever it was called.

Filch appeared round the corridor with Chang's, Potter girlfriend, and Draco couldn't hide his smirk. What a shock Potter was going to have, when he knew his lovely girlfriend had betrayed them all.

The girl was crying, and Draco frowned. Surely, if she felt guilty, why had she betrayed them all?

'Draco, please take Miss Chang and bring her here so everyone can see who decided to end this nonsense.' Umbridge's words took him out of his reverie, and he unceremoniously took Chang's arm and dragged her to the spot on the wall where a small whole had appeared. Umbridge looked like Christmas had come again, and his insides churned again as she drew out her wand and caused an explosion that made him cough. Beside him, Chang face was streaked with tears, and he forced himself to sneer when the dust cleared again and a room full of dumbstruck people appeared before him.

He tried not to look around, for he might see her, and the last thing he wanted to do right now was look at her grey eyes and feel guilty, because he hadn't done anything.

As the room began to swarm with Inquisitorial Squad members, he kept his look fixed on Potter, a sneer in his face, while he berated himself for even thinking about getting Luna out of this. Just because he had a stupid crush, he wasn't about to jump in front of the Knight Bus for her, he wasn't that dumb.

Yet.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**__**-D-M**_

Draco concentrated even more on his parchment, craning his neck, but trying to keep a dignified composure at the same time. He couldn't loose composure.

Quill sliding across the parchment, he frowned. When had he got so neurotic? When had he started worrying about his every move, every blink?

Okay, so he had always been a little paranoic before, but it was a thing that came with his social status, and apart from his appareance and his manners, he didn't worry too much. But now, now he was watching his every move, every one! Damn, he was frightened to move his wrist in one direction or another in case someone saw it and misinterpreted!

Merlin, he was pathetic!

'Hello Draco' a soft voice said in front of him, and even as he lifted his head from the parchment, he already knew who it belonged to.

'What do you want?' he asked, rather bluntly. She didn't answer, she just sat in front of him, and their legs touched for the briefest of moments, and he fought hard to hide the faint heat that crept its way up his face. Looking down, he concentrated again in the parchment, and he had a strange sense of déjà vu.

'I was wondering if maybe you'd help me with my Potions essay. Snape has assigned it for tomorrow, and I forgot everything about it…' she took from the front of her robes a parchment, and his travelled to the parchment and then to her face. She was looking at him expenctantly, and Draco had the strange urge to squirm.

Theo's words resonated again in his mind, but they seemed oddly muffled, and just a faint whisper, barely audible over the beating of his heart.

'Okay' he said, but still cast a look around, hoping nobody was near.

'I've already looked, there's only a first year, and he's almost finished. Everybody's taking dinner' she said in her usual sing-song voice, and he exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding.

He then turned to her parchment and like the last time, pointed out things that were wrong, and she corrected them. But even if it was a perfect copy of their last time at the library, it was completely different, at least for him. Last time, he hadn't admitted it that he had a crush on her (even if it was just to himself), and he hadn't had Theo's threat over his head. Really, what could he do? He knew Theo would hold his tongue if he didn't have any more proof, he wasn't the one looking for problems.

'Are you okay? Your head seems to be full of Nargles' said Luna, and he shrugged, trying not to snort at the imaginary creature.

'I'm fine'

'Why are you lying?' she asked in a surprised tone, and he rubbed his face with his hand, sighing. Should he tell her that Theo was going to tell on them? No, wait, he couldn't. Because there was no _them_.

But then again, there could be… Oh, come off it, Draco, there would be nothing, because it was just not possible. The two of them in a relationship… it didn't seem right. It wasn't right. His crush, if it was even a crush, was nothing more than that, a crush, and it would go away, eventually.

'I am fine, just… I'm fine, okay?' he looked down at the parchment, avoiding her gaze, and he didn't think for a second she'd believe it.

'You don't want to tell me, it's okay' she said that in a happy tone, not sarcastic like any other person would've done. 'But I'm gonna tell you something about me, a secret, and then you're gonna tell me that thing that is bothering you, okay? That way we'll be in common ground, and I won't say anything because then you could tell anyone my secret, okay?' she said all that in a cheery tone, as if she was talking of her favourite cereal or something, and he didn't have the heart to tell her that her secrets wouldn't interest anyone, so he just looked at her, slightly baffled.

Without waiting for his answer, she continued talking.

'You know the horseless carriages that bring us to the castle the first day?' he nodded, unsure of what this was leading to. 'They aren't horseless.' He raise his eyebrows 'They are pulled by these animals called Thestrals' he let out a disbelieving snort, and leaned back on the chair. It worried him very much that he hadn't already took off running in the other direction, and was instead listening to some nonsense about invisible things.

'And why can't I see them?' he asked, crossing his arms.

'Because you haven't seen someone die'

'And you have?' Draco leaned forward again, staring into her eyes. She nodded, but the smile never let her face.

'My mother. It was an accident. I was nine' she shrugged, as if to shake off something unpleasant, and smiled again, though this time it did seem a little less dreamier than usual.

'Nott's threatened me with telling my father about… how I… hang out with you, kinda of' he finished lamely, not even sure why he had said it.

'Well, that's mean' she said, and then added 'But I'm sure you could also say things about him to his father that would put him in a tight spot, couldn't you? I really hope that doesn't mean you can't help me anymore with y homework, because I like it when we hang out, you are very interesting'

Draco looked down again, trying to fight back the goofy smile that had come to his lips.

When he looked up again, Luna was rereading her finished essay, and her long hair covered the side of her face and reached the table, and he was tempted to tuck it behind her ear, but he refrained himself in time, leaving his hand resting on the table.

After a few minutes, she lifted her head and smiled at him, not the usual dreamy and slightly crazy smile, but the grateful one she saved for him (or that was what he liked to think), and he couldn't help but smile back.

And there they sat, smiling at each other, and Draco couldn't help but think what a picturesque picture they made, the official Hogwarts loony and the arrogant Slytherin prince, alone in the library, just smiling at each other.

What the heck, he thought, he liked being with luna, it was a change from the stuck up people he was surrounded by everyday. At that moment, Draco made a decision. He was going to fight, and he wasn't going to play fair. He was a Slytherin after all, wasn't he? Nott wouldn't know what hit him.

* * *

Review, please!


	9. All Is Fair In Love And War

**Prompt:** all's fair in love and war

**Summary: **'I told you' He nearly jumped out of his skin when upon entering the common room, a cold voice greeted him. Looking around, he saw Nott seated at a table, book open in front of him and eyes boring holes into his head. 'Get lost' Draco replied with all the spite he could. He wasn't about to discuss his errors with Nott.

Sorry for making you wait such a long time, I promise it won't happen again!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

* * *

_Chapter 9:_

'Aha! I won!' Luna said in a singsong voice, making his bishop move across the chessboard.

'But that's – that's not possible!' cried Draco, feeling mildly outraged. How hadn't he seen that one coming? He was just about to do check mate, and then, suddenly out of the blue, Luna did checkmate!

He sighed, leaning back in his chair, and frowning at the chessboard.

'Okay, you win'

'There's no need to pout, I will let you win next time' she said, keeping the chessboard and her pieces in her bag, and handing him his. He put it in his bag, and straightened up, looking around discretely.

They were sitting in a far corner of the library, almost in the Restricted Section, hidden form view by a tall shelf of philosophical books, which ought to be the most boring and dull thing ever, since nobody had ever come that way, and they had been meeting there for weeks.

After that evening in the library, when he had decided to throw away his last shred of dignity he had left (or at least that was what his father would have said), and start a sort of friendship with Luna Lovegood, the official Hogwarts loony, daughter of the Quibbler editor and a synonym to every definition of the word mad; well, he had gone straight to Nott and threatened him with every embarrassing bit of information he knew about him (which wasn't little. He had lived with him the last five years, after all), and he had eventually succeeded in making Nott swear that he wouldn't tell a living soul about Draco's… eh, friend.

'I still can't believe you won' he said, brow furrowed.

'Well, we can't always win, can we? If we did, life would be pretty boring' she said, looking at him, and he blinked, looking away. He still wasn't sure why he did this, spending so much time with her, feasting in his vulnerability, not in the least ashamed of his actions.

He didn't know why he did it, but he felt good, so he wasn't about to chuck it away.

'What did you get in the Potions essay?' he asked her, trying to change topics.

'An A, but just because you helped me. If not, I wouldn't have passed. Of course, the Nargles would have helped me somehow, but I find your help much better, even if it's cheating' she replied, and he tried not to raise an eyebrow. Seriously, even if she was strangely endearing when she mentioned the imaginary animals, it freaked him out slightly.

'All is fair in love and war, isn't it?' he said, and immediately regretted it. That commentary was disastrous all around. One, the word love was supposedly not in his vocabulary, as it could lead to really awkward moments, and two, war wasn't the ideal word to say neither, given they were in two opposite bands of said war.

Great, just great.

What was about this girl that made him say stupid things?

'I gotta go' he said, standing up at once. She smiled up at him from her seat, and said.

'See you tomorrow, then, Draco'

He didn't answer, nor did he turn around to look until he was out of the library. He still had dignity left. Or whatever.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

He was an idiot. A complete idiot.

He had been eating his breakfast when the owl post had arrived, and his eagle owl had landed before him, holding a letter. He had opened it with eagerness, longing for news from the outside. Word had gotten around that Potter and some friends had gone into the Ministry last night, and that there had been a battle. He had gone down to breakfast earlier, and had waited for the owls to arrive. Surely mother would tell him what had happened.

What he was not ready for, however, was to read a blotchy letter, written by his mother in furious despair, telling him how his father had been captured, charged as a Death Eater and sent to Azkaban. And what he sure as hell wasn't ready to read were the names of the people involved in the Ministry battle. He had expected Potter, Weasel and Granger, of course, but not Longbottom, and much less Lovegood. Luna.

She had been in the battle. She had to have seen his father. She had to have fought his father! His father had tried to kill her and her friends!

Nearly knocking over his food, he had stood up, and fled form the Great Hall before much more people arrived and saw him. Before she arrived and saw him.

How could he look her in the face, when his own father had tried to kill her?

As he walked down to the dungeons, he tried to think rationally. How much longer had he expected this eccentricity to go on before it blew up in his face?

He had been lucky he hadn't gathered his wits and told his father about his crush: she would have been dead by now. His father wouldn't have wasted a second, he would have killed her, and he probably would have laughed about it after.

But his good luck ended there. He had fallen for a girl that couldn't, shouldn't, and now, most definitely wouldn't correspond him. How could she, when it was clear they were so different? How could she, when she was fighting for something he didn't even believe in? How could she, when they were enemies?

He might as well have been holding the wand pointed at her, it would have had the same effect. She wouldn't want to talk to him ever again, much less stare at him at breakfast (which she had kept doing until that morning, the first morning she wasn't at breakfast), and he didn't even want to think of their 'friendship', if it could be called such a thing.

Really, what had it been? Just a few weeks of secret meetings in a secluded part of the library with a person that until that year he had mocked and practically despised.

'I told you'

He nearly jumped out of his skin when upon entering the common room, a cold voice greeted him. Looking around, he saw Nott seated at a table, book open in front of him and eyes boring holes into his head.

'Get lost' Draco replied with all the spite he could. He wasn't about to discuss his errors with Nott.

He had already discussed them with himself long enough.

'What will you do now that your princess hates you?' asked Nott, smirking. He resisted the urge to punch his face right through, and instead turned around and got out of the common room. However, as the door closed, he could still hear Nott's teasing voice.

'-now that she wants to kill you?'

The door shut behind him, and he stared at the empty corridor in front of him. He didn't know if she wanted to kill him, he highly doubted that her, with her dreamy face and her peaceful character could kill anyone, but maybe dying would be better than to see the horrified expression on her face when she realised just who she had been friends with.

Draco Malfoy, son of the Death Eater who had tried to kill her.

Just bloody great.

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Well, did you like it? Hope yes!

Please don't forget to review!


	10. Home

**Prompt:** home

**Summary: **After the summer between fifth and sixth year, Draco has changed. And he dreads his feelings have changed too.

Okay, so I'm not dead! I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long, my life is just a crazy mess, and I can't seem to organize myself to do things in time…

I just wanted to say an enormous THANKS to all the people who reviewed, really, it means so much to me to have so many reviews!

So, this is already chapter ten… and I've run out of prompts, and the story is nowhere near finished. So I need prompts, people, prompts! They can be a word, or a quote, whatever you want, but I need prompts. I might not use them all, since I'm not planning to make this story more than 20 chapters maximum, so sorry if I don't use yours, maybe I'll use it in another story!

Also, after this chapter I am taking a little break from this story (nothing long, don't worry, I'm not even putting it on hiatus), so I can focus on a few other stories I have nearly finished, and then I can concentrate on this one. So don't expect an update until, at least, the next three weeks, ok? Sorry if it bothers any of you, I've just got so many stories going on I want to finish some so I can focus exclusively on this one.

Thanks for your patience and don't forget to review!

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_Chapter 10:_

Draco had heard his mother say the first time he boarded the Hogwarts Express, that absence made the heart grow fonder, while she cleaned the tears that leaked from her eyes upon hugging him for the umpteenth time.

At the time, he had just turned his head the other way and tried to hide the disappointed look on his face when he realised his mother wasn't as strong as she ought to be. She was a Malfoy, for Merlin's sake! She shouldn't be tearing up because her only child was going away to Hogwarts for a whole year!

Now, six years later, he understood his mother's words hadn't been a show of weakness, but rather a show of wisdom.

During the summer between his fifth and sixth year, Draco Malfoy had been officially made a Death Eater, a year before it had been planned, because his father had landed his haughty and prideful ass in Azkaban, and there was 'one vacant spot' in The Dark Lord's inner circle. And he had been given a mission. A very important mission. If he failed, his parents would be killed, as well as him. If he succeeded, he'd be given the highest honours, and be forever remembered as the man who eliminated one of the biggest threats for the Dark side on the Wizarding War. Or as the man that killed the only hope the Light side had of winning. Because, come on, Potter may have survived the Dark Lord multiple times, but it was mostly luck or a third person's sacrifice. The Chosen One was nothing without his mentor. And everything with him. That was why Dumbledore had to die. And he, Draco Malfoy, was the lucky one who had to kill him.

He had just one doubt: if he was supposed to feel proud about his mission, and hold his head high, why was he so scared he couldn't even sleep at night, and at the Opening feast he couldn't look up from his plate in shame?

Maybe it had something to do with the smile that haunted him during his long sleepless nights. That dreamy, not-a-care-in-the-world smile. Merlin, how much he had missed it. And would continue to miss, since he wasn't about to go near her ever again, if he could help her. In his current situation, there was no time or place for the kind of 'friendship' or whatever they had had last year. Nor there was time or place for his stupid crush on her; a crush he feared might have developed into more during the summer, when he finally understood the meaning of the words his mother had said so long ago.

Not that it mattered, anyway, since she probably would deny any connection with him, given what had happened last June. Yeah, the little issue of his father trying to kill her and her friends.

'Hey! Look where you're going!' he was jerked out of his daydreaming by a rude fourth year, who nearly knocked him into a wall. He wiped around and threw a hex at the general direction of the kid, and missed by inches, making a burnt hole in the wall. He then continued walking towards Potions, not bothering to look around at the astounded face of the kid and the gasps of a few girls near him.

He really couldn't be bothered to care anymore. What did it matter, if he was going to be dead or hated by every student there by the end of the school year?

Merlin, he was starting to sound suicidal.

He turned around the corner, already thinking about the two hours of Potions ahead of him, when he glimpsed a blond figure walking down the corridor in his direction, and immediately turned around again and ran away.

Yeah, he was officially avoiding Luna Lovegood, or any light blond girl for that matter, since he didn't stay long enough to make sure it was her and not some random chick.

He knew he was being a coward and nonsensical, but who cared anyway. After this year… and there he went again with the depressing rant!

He needed to get a grip of himself before he started looking like Potter last June, after his godfather died… killed by his aunt. Oh joy, this was just getting better and better.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

He walked down the empty corridor, making sure to not aim his wand light too high. His footsteps resonated in the old walls, and he slowed down, not wanting any painting to wake up.

He silently turned another corner and looked around. No one.

As he kept walking towards his destination, he tried to focus on nothing else but the muffled noise of his footsteps and his breathing. He knew what he was doing. He knew the incantation. He just had to practice. A lot.

He knew he could do it. He had been chosen for it, and even if he hadn't been chosen for his skills in that area, he was still going to succeed, and prove to everyone that he was more than just Daddy's son, more than just a school bully. He was powerful, he was a pureblood, he was a Death Eater, and he was…

'Draco?'

He jumped about five feet into the air and stifled a scream when the sudden voice broke his train of thought. He whirled around, his wand suddenly shaking in his hand, and for a second he thought his heart had stopped.

In front of him, dressed in a nightdress and light blue slippers, her long white long hair mussed and falling freely down her shoulders, was Luna.

His Luna.

Wait, what? His Luna? Oh come on! This couldn't be happening! This had to be a dream, he was sure of it. He had fallen asleep in his bed and hadn't woken up at all. There was no way she was walking down the Hogwarts corridors at three a.m. dressed in a nightdress. It was just impossible, no matter how weird she was.

'What are you doing here?' he asked, his voice coming out raspy and harsher than he intended. She cocked her head to the side, and a strand of hair fell on her face. His wand light flickered and then extinguished itself, plunging the corridor in darkness, only broken by the dim light of the moon that came through a window.

'I sleep walk.' She finally said, and pointed at her blue slippers. 'That's why I wear shoes to bed. I was sleep walking, but I woke up, and I saw you walking down the Charms corridor, so I followed you.' She said, smiling slightly.

Oh Merlin… in the dimly light corridor, her hair seemed to almost shine brighter than the moonlight coming from the window, and it reminded him of some muggle paintings he had seen one time he went to muggle London. They had a weird name… angles, or angels, or something like that, but they were beautiful, all light in a world full of darkness, the personification of goodness in the middle of pure evil…

Luna bore a shocking resemblance to them right now.

The shock of her appearing so suddenly had made him forgot one moment of the utter surrealism of the situation, but when she turned her head to look at the window, the smile never leaving his face, he remembered why this must be a dream.

'Why… why are you talking to me?' he asked, his previously raspy voice now barely more than a whisper.

'Why should I not talk to you? Because your father is a bad man and tried to kill me last June?' she asked, looking back at him. He swallowed, looking down at his feet, suddenly feeling more nervous that when he had been made Death Eater. 'You have nothing to do with that, it's not your fault.' She continued, and she put a hand on his shoulder, making his already confused mind go even hazier. Was this really happening?

'You are a good man, Draco, why shouldn't I talk to you? You are my friend, and it's been already a month since term started, and I haven't seen you in the library yet'

Okay, this was surreal. Completely.

He had been going insane all summer over her thinking he was a horrible man, and now it turned out she did not blame him for what happened at the Ministry, and moreover, considered him her friend and had been waiting for him at the library a month!

'Luna… I…' he stammered, trying to clear his head.

'What are you doing here? Do you sleepwalk too?' she asked, and he instinctively shook his head, before he remembered what he had really been doing.

He had been planning the murder of her beloved Headmaster. Damn.

'Nothing… I, just… Luna, look, you better go back to bed, Filch could catch us and…' that sounded so wrong. Catch them, as if they had been doing something together…

What was he doing? Why was he talking to her? They were in the middle a bloody war, what the hell were they doing, talking to each other like it was the most normal thing in the planet? It was not right!

Maybe, just maybe, now he would be able to sleep a little better, knowing she didn't hate his guts, but they couldn't be friends.

'Listen, Luna. We can't be friends anymore' he said, and her face fell slightly, but she continued to look at him.

'Why?' she asked, her dreamy voice coming in waves through his hazy mind. This was getting incredibly difficult to do. 'Is it because we're in separate sides? But that doesn't matter.'

'Yes it does! It does matter!' he snapped, rubbing his temples. 'Look, Luna, like you said, my father is… a bad man, okay? And last June… Well, last June he didn't know we were friends.' Her eyes got bigger, but she didn't say anything, so he continued talking, wringing his hands together. 'If he had known we were friends… he would have killed you.' He looked back up, and looked right into her eyes. In the darkness of the corridor, they were almost black, but they still shone like stars.

Oh Merlin, he was turning into a sap.

But then again, nobody was there, except him and Luna, and not even her could see how much he had missed her, how much he had wished to just be another normal teenager... So, as they were alone there, he had the right to be cheesy if he wanted to, and he definitely had the right to feel heartbroken if it turned out he couldn't even be friends with the girl he... he... he had a crush on.

'I don't care' she said, and it took him two seconds to figure out what she was talking about. He shook his head.

'But I do. A lot.' He swallowed, thinking he may have gone too far, but she didn't gasp or make any sudden movements, she just looked at him, as if urging him to go on. 'So, it'll be better if we just… aren't friends anymore.'

She looked down at her blue slippers, and he stared at her, unable to tear his eyes away from her. He knew this was probably the last chance he would ever have to be so close to her, given that at the end of this year she would hate him for real, or he would be dead.

'But when the war finishes and we both survive we will be friends again, won't we?' she asked, still looking down, and he swallowed.

He didn't know if he could lie to her. He didn't know if he had the strength. But he had to. He couldn't tell her truth. He just couldn't. So taking a deep breath, he plasted on a fake smile, and said.

'Of course, Luna. Don't worry'

She looked up from his slippers, and smiled one of the genuine smiles he liked to believe she reserved for him.

And then she hugged him.

He staggered back a few steps and instinctively wrapped his arms around her for support, getting goosebumps all over his skin as she wrapped her arms around his torso and rested her head on his chest. He stiffened and thought for a second of pushing her back, but her next words pushed that thought out of his head.

'I'm going to miss you' she said, her voice muffled by his jumper.

He knew she wasn't one to easily give hugs, and she knew he wasn't one to easily accept them, but this time was an exception. And so he closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of her head. Nothing else existed, but the smell of her hair and the feeling of her touch, and the rest was so blissfully empty he couldn't bear the thought of ever letting go.

For the first time since before the summer, he felt at peace, and for the first time since before he boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time, he felt at home.

He belonged there, and yet, he knew he would never return there, and this moment would never happen again.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

He dragged his feet towards the Slytherin table, rubbing his eyes and trying not to knock into someone.

'Hey, Draco!' Blaise called him from a seat at the center of the table.

He sat opposite Blaise and grabbed a toast, not bothering to talk or even listen about what Zabini was saying. He was too busy focusing on his toast for that.

'Oh, yeah, I totally agree' he absentmindedly said, and Blaise stared at him like he had grown two heads.

'Really, Draco? Are you even listening to me? I just said Gryffindor's Quidditch team is pretty good this year, all with Potter being captain'

Draco tried to sneer at him and shake his head, but when he lifted his head to properly glare at his Slytherin friend, he caught something much more worth his attention.

At the Ravenclaw table, at the seat were Luna Lovegood, the official Hogwarts loony, normally sat, was now sitting a first year, and looking down the table, he caught a glimpse of her blond hair near the far end of the table.

She was animatedly talking with some other Ravenclaw girl, and even though he stared at her for almost five minutes, she never once looked at him, not even his way.

Sighing, he looked back at Blaise.

'So, what were you saying?'

If she, the most sweet and benevolent girl he'd ever met, could act like the last year never happened, like their friendship never happened, he, Slytherin prince and Death Eater, could sure as hell do it too.

As for him being in love with her, well, that… was something he didn't want to think about now. Or ever again. For his safety, and for hers.

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So, liked it? I made it extra long to make up for the long wait!

Please remember to review suggesting prompts or quotes for the next chapters!

:)


	11. Butterflies

**Prompt:**butterflies.

**Summary:** She was in- WHAT?

Thanks to Miss Crookshanks for the prompt! I hope you like it! Thanks also to all of those who reviewed and suggested prompts, keep them coming!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, sadly…

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_Chapter 11_

'Merlin damnit!' Draco swore as he shut the door of the classroom he had been in while talking to Snape. Why did that grease-head think he needed help? He was doing perfectly fine, thank you very much! Being caught outside Slughorn's Christmas party, supposedly trying to sneak in, had been only a minor incident, and would not happen again. He was almost finished with the mission! He had already planted the poisoned liquor in Slughorn's office, and in the next two days the problem would be solved, and he would be honoured with the highest reward.

He also would be hated by just about everyone in the school, but that didn't matter, because he would be long gone. By the time Dumbledore's death and the name of his murderer were known, he would have fled the castle with a group of fellow Death Eaters, never to come back again, at least until The Dark Lord conquered the castle. The only thought made him shiver. Somehow, the concept of The Dark Lord walking –or gliding, or whatever he did- down the corridors at Hogwarts made him sick. Like physically sick. And the most worrying part of it is that it shouldn't. He should be glad the castle was going to get finally rid of all the mudblood pigs that roamed the halls, and even some of the blood traitors, like Weaselbee and his family, but he wasn't.

All that uneasiness, combined with the highest amounts of stress and pressure he had ever suffered, and the fact that SHE had been at the Slughorn party with Potter, were probably the reason he had practically shoved Snape out of the way in his way out of the room, and why he had been so angry his vision had turned red and his ears filled with a ragged breathing that could very possibly be he own, or someone's else, he didn't even care. He walked down the candlelit corridor, cursing with all the swearwords he knew, in all the languages he could remember.

From the other side of the door at the end of the corridor he could hear laughter, music and talking, and he immediately turned the other direction. He didn't want to be around anyone tonight. He seriously doubted he would be able to control himself if he saw Potter and HER holding hands or even talking. Potter would probably end up with a black eye or tentacles spreading from his face or something like that, and then he would have really screwed up. Great.

He unconsciously stopped walking and leaned against the cool glass of a window, resting his forehead against it and fighting the strong urge to bang his head against the glass until he blacked out.

No, wait, that would be impractical. He should not draw attention to himself. Fucking great. How did you do that?

_First, you should probable stop leaning against a window in the middle of a deserted corridor_, a small voice in his head said.

Oh Merlin, now he was going insane.

'Dragon Tartar?' a voice said from behind him, and he jumped nearly three feet in the air, whirling around.

'What in Merlin's beard do you think you're doing, Longbottom?' he snarled to the Gryffindor boy standing before him. What was he doing outside of the party? Why had he come all the way down there to offer him a Dragon Tartar, which by the way were disgusting?

Longbottom seemed to be having some breathing difficulties, or maybe he was just too dumb and he had forgotten how to breathe, because his face was turning beet red.

'Oh – ah, Malfoy! I didn't know it was you… I thought I'd take a look around and see if there was someone who-'

Okay, this was just too comical. He couldn't be that stupid. Nobody apart from Weaselbee could be that thick. Did he seriously not recognise him from behind? Come on! How many people with his exquisite hair colour were in the school?

'Get out of my face, Longbottom. Now!' he all but shouted, and the boy turned around and fled from there.

'Why were you so mean to Neville?' another voice, much calmer and with a dreamy tone asked somewhere on his right.

And there he went again, jumping all over the place. Merlin, he seemed like a twitchy ferret… Okay, do NOT go there.

How did she manage to always sneak up on him? He never heard her coming. On more than one occasion he had wondered whether her feet actually touched the ground when she walked. It was just impossible for a human being to be so freaking silent.

Well, it was also just impossible for a human being to be as pretty as she was right-

STOP IT! Do NOT go there either.

_Remember how you're supposed to act. Remember who she is. She is not your ally, not your friend, not your crush and definitely not your lover. She's your enemy. You're her enemy. Act like it._ The voice in his head was surely having a chatty night

'Because he's a blubbering idiot' the biting response came out of his lips without effort, after years and years of practice.

'He is not!' was her response, all the dreamy tone lost. Damn, now she was angry. He had never seen her angry, at least not at him.

Now the idea of banging his head against a glass looked pretty good to him. Better than face her, anyway.

He had to continue acting like he didn't care. Because he didn't. Not at all.

'Well, I don't care about your opinion, so-' he brushed past her, and he would have continued to walk until he reached his bed and lied down and hope to die, or better yet, throw himself out of a window, if it wasn't for her voice, back to her normal dreamy self.

'Why are you being so me to me?' the voice was loud and clear, and it rang in his ears like a bombing spell.

He stopped dead in his tracks, but didn't turn around. Did he even have to? What difference would it make if he answered or not?

He straightened his shoulders and began walking away, counting his steps.

'Draco? Wait' a hand gripped his forearm, and he turned around.

'What?' he spat, this time genuine angered. Why was she making it so difficult? Why couldn't she just understand they couldn't be friends, they couldn't even be acquaintances? He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something happened to her. He didn't bear the thought of her getting injured, tortured or something worse because she was his friend. She was better off without him, much safer without a friend like him. Their paths should never have crossed.

'Are you alright? You seem a little bit off' she said, never releasing his forearm, and he swallowed, trying to find an appropriate response that would get him out of there fast. He couldn't bear be in her presence without his mind becoming a crazy mess and his stomach filling with butterflies, and it was much worse knowing he would not be able to banish her from his mind, because that would be like banishing a part of him.

'I'm perfectly alright. Now go back with your date Potter and enjoy your evening' he answered. Well, at least he hadn't been rude.

She opened her eyes a lot, and then laughed.

'Harry's not my date! He invited me as friends! Isn't it great?' she said, smiling, and he resisted the urge to cry out in joy. Instead, he frowned and looked down at her hand, which still grasped his forearm. Strangely, it didn't feel awkward at all.

'Whatever.' He said, as if he was going to continue walking, but he didn't move.

'Draco, why are you like this with me? You were never so mean to me when we were friends!' she looked right in his eyes, and he swallowed again.

'That's it! Don't you see it? We're not friends! We aren't! Why is it so hard for you to understand?' he burst out, and she grasped his hand hard, as if she was afraid he would go running away. He was tempted to. This whole conversation was just too painful.

'I miss you too' she whispered, and he stared at her, dumbfounded.

'I- I haven't said –'

'You don't need to' she replied, smiling kindly at him.

'If you miss me so much, why aren't you a mess like I am?' He couldn't help it. The words blurted out of his mouth before he could shut it. The moment he realised what he had just said he wanted to die. Oh Merlin, oh Merlin, this was bad. This was really bad.

Now she was gonna look him like he'd grown a second head or something, and he'd be doomed.

However, all she did was smile at him, that smile she reserved for him, and say, in a voice that somehow managed to sound more dreamy-like than ever.

'Because I'm in love'

She was in- WHAT?

'W- Wha – What?' he choked out, his voice high pitched. She nodded, her cheeks flushing red.

'Yes, I'm in love, and I know he will always be there for me, protecting me, so I'm not a mess. When someone loves you like he loves me, it's impossible to be a mess'

He choked out something unintelligible and then cleared his throat.

'Good- good for you. Really. I'm happy for you. I – I must go' he said in a rush, released his hand from hers and turned on his heels, practically running down the corridor and out of view.

He felt like he couldn't breathe. There was something pressing in his chest so hard he had to stop at the end of the next corridor to catch his breath, but then he continued running until he reached the huge doors of the Great Hall and went outside, walking through the snow towards a lonely tree near the forest, where he slumped down, and finally, finally, put his head between his knees and cried.

Cried because he couldn't believe this was happening to him. Because he had selfishly thought, or rather hoped, that she hadn't been able to move on- move on from what? He was being stupid. There was never something between, just a one-sided crush he was surprised she hadn't discovered.

He cried because he couldn't bear the thought of her hugging another one, kissing another… every time he thought of it he wanted to punch something so bad he already had scratch marks in his palms from clenching his fists.

But mostly he cried because he now understood that he was all alone, after all.

* * *

Okay, another chapter done! God, I really feel sorry for Draco, I feel like I'm putting through a whole lot of angst, and I fear that will not change much in the next chapters, though maybe I can throw in a little bit of fluff, if you want (with flashbacks, of course. I don't think there's much room for fluff in their current state). Tell me what you think about it in a review, please, your opinions are really important to me!

:)


	12. Detention

**Prompt:** Detention

**Summary: **He turned to point the wand at his prey, willing the lump forming in his throat to go away, and the tears forming in his eyes to disappear. He had to do this.

I'M SO TERRIBLY SORRY! Really, I'm so ashamed of myself for not updating before. I left summer catch up with me and went lazy, instead of getting my ass working and updating all these stories I've left hanging. Well, you know what, that's gonna end right now. I'm not gonna write another single thing until this is done, and believe me, it will be done by the end of October, first week of November (okay, maybe a little bit more because I have school), but definitely before Christmas.

Okay, so I have decided to leave the fluff flashbacks for next chapter, because this one had a lot of drama in it, and I feel it would be very difficult to change from one emotional state to another, and you wouldn't fully appreciate the story. I promise there WILL be fluff in the next chapter.

**Another thing:** I'm almost sure there are 5 chapters left, so enjoy each and every one of them!

Again, please forgive me for being a lazy ass and keeping you waiting for so long, especially for leaving Draco in the state I left him at the end of last chapter.

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Disclaimer: I don't own anything, as much as I want to.

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_Chapter 12_

The sound of his feet upon the stone staircase resonated vaguely through his mind, like the ticking of a clock that never stopped. With each step he came closer and closer to the objective of his mission, the one he had been preparing and waiting for all year.

Tic toc. Tic toc. Tic toc.

The rhythmical sound accompanied him as he climbed the staircase of the Astronomy Tower, wand tightly griped in his hand, and a million thoughts in his brain. If he hadn't visualised this moment so many times in his head, if he hadn't had the tower layout engraved in his brain, he would have tripped over his own feet and stumbled to the bottom of the stairs, because in that moment, he couldn't see what was in front of him. His head was trying desperately to focus on the present moment, to stay alert, but something deep inside him was squirming, and he didn't know if it was his stomach, his heart, or his soul, but it was wriggling its way to the front of his mind, and he had the looming sensation that when he connected the pieces, he wasn't going to like the outcome.

Tic toc. Tic toc. Tic toc.

Finally he arrived to the top of the stairs, he tried to breath through his nose and not his mouth, but his heart was beating so wildly he feared if he didn't get enough air he was going to pass out.

_Well, better that than dying._

He shivered as he turned to point the wand at his prey, willing the lump forming in his throat to go away, and the tears forming in his eyes to disappear. He had to do this.

'Good evening Draco. What brings you here on this fine spring evening?'

Through his crazed brain, Draco was able to register that his headmaster was capable of being polite even in the face of someone pointing a wand at him. It also registered that he had heard voices while he ascended the stairs. He chastised himself for not being in high alert, as the moment required, and gripped his wand tighter. The last thing he needed was to seem indecisive and weak. He was not weak. He was not weak.

'Who else is here? I've heard you talking'

'I've been talking aloud to myself.' Dumbledore replied, like it was no big deal. Draco knew it was a lie, but it didn't matter. If there had been someone he had left now, and besides, Bellatrix and the others wouldn't take very long to arrive.

His attention was sharply brought back to the present moment when Dumbledore said, in a tone that made the lump on his throat grow.

'Draco, you are no assassin' the words stirred something inside him, the same thing that had been making his way from the back of his mind, but he couldn't place it yet.

'How do you know what I am? I've done things that would shock you!' he needed to prove he was in control. He was not weak. He needed to do it.

'Oh, like cursing Katie Bell and hoping that she would return the cursed necklace to me? Like replacing a bottle of matured mead with one filled with poison? Forgive me Draco, I cannot help feeling this actions were so weak that your heart can't have really been in it'

With each word Dumbledore said, his brain got muddier, making him blink several times before what the Headmaster had said sank. So Dumbledore had known every little attempt of killing him. It was true; his heart hadn't been in it. His heart… the thing in the back of his mind stirred more forcefully, and he bit down a sob.

He needed to do it. He couldn't fail. Not now.

He violently pulled up his sleeve, showing the dark tattoo that marred his skin. At the moment it had a glossy look, and was almost moving. The tattoo sensed there was something evil about to happen.

'That should make it easier for you' Dumbledore said, and raised his wand. His brain may have been muddled with a million thoughts, but he wasn't stupid. In a swift move he disarmed his Headmaster, ignoring the surge of power that went through his arm and to his chest. Adrenaline. It must have been adrenaline. He noticed suddenly his Headmaster looked pale and fragile, and was in a slightly hunched position.

'Draco, Draco' at that moment a door opened somewhere in the tower, and Dumbledore turned to him, surprised. 'You're not alone, there are others' and from all of the questions he could have asked, he asked the simplest one. 'How?' somehow, Draco didn't think he was only referring to how he had let Death Eaters into the castle.

'The Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement. I've been fixing it' the words poured out of him like vomit, and he wasn't able to clench his jaw to stop the words from seeping between his teeth.

'Let me guess. It has a sister, a twin'

'At Borgin and Burkes. They form a passage' he felt oddly relieved after telling him that. For so long he had been oppressed by the secret, choked by the sheer magnitude of what he was plotting, and now, to stand there, where every one of his intentions were finally clear, he couldn't help but feel a little bit safer than he had felt in years. The grip on his wand loosened, but he didn't bring it down. He couldn't. He had to do it, even if every fibre of his body was screaming at him not to.

'Genius, Draco.' The only praise he got from his Headmaster in all his school years, and it had to be just before he murdered him, for an evil plan to infiltrate criminals into the school. Oh, the irony.

Dumbledore talked again, his tired and old voice resonating through the empty tower.

'Years ago, I knew a boy who made all the wrong choices. Please let me help you.'

He couldn't hold back the tears any longer. His heart was beating wildly in his ears, and he had to shout to hear himself over the rush of blood in his veins. He felt light-headed. He knew what Dumbledore was offering him. Safety. To lay down his wand and go with him to the other side, to the good side. Everyone would hate him, the bad side and the good side. Everybody. His brain worked like crazy. What was the thing that was escaping him? Why did he feel like something was missing from the equation?

'I don't want your help! Don't you understand? I have to do this. I have to kill you, or he's gonna kill me'

And there it is. The final confession. He was afraid, oh so afraid. Why him? He was just a boy; he should be worrying about girls and exams, not how to survive and how to murder someone. But he didn't want to die, so he had to do it. He had to kill, in order to live. He just didn't know what he was more afraid of; dying, or living with the knowledge that he had stolen someone the rest of their lives.

He didn't want to do it. He just wanted all this to end.

The hold on his wand relaxed a little bit more and he started to lower his wand. He didn't want to fight anymore. He was tired of it all. So tired… so tired he didn't hear his wicked aunt and the rest of the Death Eaters arrive until his aunt spoke.

'Oh, look what we have here. Well done Draco'

His aunt whispered the last part in his ear, and he felt sick. He swallowed back the lump in his throat, and looking at Dumbledore in despair. It was too late now. Nothing would save him. He'd have to kill him.

Dumbledore, after greeting Bellatrix in a similar manner as he had done with Draco, glanced briefly at him, and for a second Draco thought he saw a twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes, as if he knew something no one else knew.

'Do it!' the voice of his aunt reached his brain, but he did nothing to show he had heard. He looked straight at Dumbledore, the only sign he hadn't been petrified his shaking hand, which pointed his wand at the Headmaster.

Tic toc. Tic toc. Tic toc.

The seconds passed, and still he didn't open his mouth, or make the curse in his head. He heard a drawling voice talk about his father, probably insulting him and calling him a coward, but it was like a distant buzz in his ears. He could hear nothing over the roaring of his thoughts and the wild beating of his heart.

_Just do it. Do it and get it over with_.

The little voice in his head made nothing to diminish his confusion, and the squirming little thought inside him, the one that had been nagging him since he started to climb the staircase, had grown and wasn't squirming anymore, it was thrashing against the walls he had made in his head to keep out everything he didn't want to think about.

'This is your moment, do it. Come on, Draco. Now!' the sickly sweet voice of his aunt racked his brain, and suddenly, the dam in his mind broke down, and everything came pouring in.

_Her crazy-looking gaze under those weird Quibbler glasses._

_ThHer hair swinging as she skipped through the corridors._

_Her dreamy smile when she talked about the fantastical creatures that plagued her world._

_Glimpses of her in the library, walking around the tall bookcases, laughing at one of his jokes. _

_The smile she reserved only for him._

_The smell of her hair __and her arms surrounding him, once upon a time, in a moonlit corridor._

_And a single sentence, pronounced in her unique__ voice that seemed to lull him to sleep and awake him at the same time:_

'_You're not a bad man, Draco'_

His eyes focused again, and he looked at the tip of his wand, and then at Dumbledore.

He couldn't do it.

He didn't want to do it.

He wasn't going to do it.

To hell with it. To hell with all. He'd rather die than turn himself into a murderer. He couldn't bear to imagine the look in Luna's face if they told her he was responsible for the death of Dumbledore. Responsible for taking a person's life.

He preferred to die an innocent man than to live a guilty one.

He was about to set down his wand and face the wrath of her aunt, when Snape, his Head of House, appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly, a flashing green light illuminated his face, and he saw Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard to walk this earth, the only man who wasn't afraid of Him, disappear over the balustrade like a ragged doll.

**_D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M_**

They raced through the castle, Bellatrix laughing like a maniac and bursting windows and knocking over statues. They passed the Charms corridor, the corridor that lead to the Room of Requirement, the corridor where he had had detention one time with Filch, and a whole lot of other corridors that he had walked over his past years at Hogwarts, and which he knew like the palm of his hand, but now seemed foreign and strange to him.

They arrived to the Great Hall, and he watched in horror how Bellatrix jumped onto one of the tables and began knocking and kicking glasses, cutlery and plates. She then burst all the windows, and a strong wind hit his face.

What had he done with himself? How could he have ended with such demented people? Why had he yearned for this moment when he was young? How could he have been so foolish?

He had had many occasions to turn back and away from this madness, but he hadn't wanted to, even if it meant loosing the only thing he held dear.

Luna.

What would she think of him now? Would she hate him? Would she forgive him one day, even if they didn't see each other again?

All the questions that plagued him back during the beginning of the year came back with a new force, one fuelled by sheer regret over his actions, something he didn't have at the beginning of the year.

Oh Merlin, he wished he could take it all back.

But as they descended towards the Forbidden Forest and dissaparated to Malfoy Manor, he let the tears fall and mark his face with shiny tracks.

It was too late.

* * *

Sorry for the lack of Luna this chapter, next chapter you'll see more of her, I promise!

Don't mind the typos (if there's any), but I just wanted to get this chapter posted.

Thanks for sticking with me even if I'm such a procrastinator, please don't give up on me now, I'm back for sure, I promise. I won't disappear for such a long time EVER AGAIN.

Thanks to all the lovely reviews and favourites, keep them coming please, I BEG YOU!


	13. Green Apples

**Prompt: **green apples

**Summary: **They were happy memories, of course, but they took a bittersweet tinge when he remembered they were never to be repeated again, they belonged to the past, not the present, and he had seen what living in the past could do to a person.

WOW, 148 reviews already! I can't believe it! I never expected so much support when I started writing this story, but you guys have helped me get through every writer's block I've had with your encouragement. So this chapter is dedicated to everyone out there who has reviewed this story, no matter the chapter, no matter the length of your review. Just thanks!

Can we make it to 170 reviews? I have a surprise for the person that writes the 170th review!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, sadly.

*Sorry if there are any typos, but it's two in the morning and I really want to go to sleep. If it's really terrible please tell me and I'll try to repost it. Otherwise, ignore them. :)

* * *

_Chapter 13:_

'Incendio'

He watched, face expressionless and eyes cold, as the fireplace alighted and the pile of books inside of it started burning down. He could hear the leather covers cracking, the fire eating away the paper of the pages, and the heat beginning to warm his body.

He was in a large room with high ceilings, but the bright light coming from the fireplace didn't reach anything but the spot on which he was standing. The rest of the room was set in a gloomy darkness, and the dark green on the walls and the expensive mahogany furniture only seemed to repel the light even more.

While the books slowly became a smouldering pile of ash and charred leather, he turned away from the fireplace and walked back to his bed, where five books were placed on top of the covers. He traced the spines with his fingers, and then opened them, one by one, until he found a page that made him smile, albeit a very small smile.

The pages he was on were covered by doodling, little animals and fantastic creatures covering the margins and the spaces between paragraphs. Next to the small drawings, in very curvy handwritten, were the names of all the creatures, and on the right hand corner, a small signature, which clearly read:

_Art by Luna Lovegood, for Draco Malfoy._

His chest tightened, and he looked harder at the words as the memories enveloped him, carrying far away from that dark room, and into a sunlit library.

'_You know, the Humdinger Noose is actually very shy, it's a difficult feat to capture one, that's why we haven't seen a specimen before.'_

_Draco looked up from his Herbology essay, trying to stifle a sarcastic laugh._

'_If no one has ever seen one, how can you know how it looks like?' he asked, and Luna stopped writing in a book and looked up at him, shrugging._

'_Given the magical abilities that it has, the most logical way for it to look like it's this' she lifted up the book and showed him a sketch on one of the margins: it depicted a small, bird-like creature, with frog legs and a beak much too big in comparison to its body. Draco didn't know what its magical abilities were, and he didn't really care, but he cocked his head to the side nonetheless, making it look as if he was actually very interested in the appearance of the creature._

_Luna arched a brow._

'_You don't have to pretend, I know you don't think it exists, I just wanted to see if you approved of the drawing'_

'_And why does the drawing need my approving?' he asked, and he looked into her big grey eyes, which were suddenly alight with something akin to mischief._

'_Because it's your book' she replied, a smirk upon her face. He took a second to register what she said, because, damn, that smirk was distracting, and he was pretty sure she didn't know how to smirk before they met, and he couldn't help it but feel oddly proud of himself for rubbing off a little on her._

_Then he realised it was indeed his book, and his mouth fell open._

'_What have you-?' he stared at the page, and with mild horror recognised a recipe for a potion. 'It's my potions book!' he hissed, but his words lacked the stern tone he wanted to give them, and looking back at her smirking face, he couldn't help but huff and relunctantly smile too._

_A few months before he would have surely thrown a fit and hexed whoever dared to doodle in his books, but maybe it was because her calm was also rubbing off on him, he just leaned back in his chair and mock-glared at her._

'_I'm not letting you near my books ever again. You can't be trusted with a pen in your hands' he said, trying to bring back some sort of seriousness to the situation. After all, she had painted his books, with invented animals on top of that. He ought to be offended!_

'_Too late' she said with an impish look after a second, and glanced at the books strewn over the table before looking back at him._

_His face must have been hilarious, because the smirk became a full blown smile, and suddenly she was giggling, covering her mouth with her hand, trying to be silent, though it was unlikely someone heard them, as they were on the far corner of the library, next to the Restricted Section._

_He tried to look outraged, but her face just became redder and redder as she tried, and failed, to stop the giggles from escaping her mouth._

'_Oh, what the hell' he muttered, giving up on his attempts to be angry, and smiled too._

_After all, they were just books. _

Just books…

He closed the books with a snap, regretting it instantly and checking to see if there was damage on any of them. When he found none, he gently picked them up and walked across the room, where his private library stood. There, he pushed aside some books about the Dark Arts, gift of his mother when he became a Death Eater, and pushed an invisible button on the back of the wood. The wood panelling immediately moved aside, revealing a small space, just enough to fit all of the books he was carrying inside. In the past it had served as a secret place to keep all of the small trinkets he was particularly fond of, like a small soldier made out of silver, or a box that played a tune when opened, but they had long been discarded and thrown away, and now the space was empty and dusty. He quickly Scourgified it and placed the books inside, closing the small wood panelling with a sharp noise, not wanting to linger in the memories the books brought him.

Albeit they were happy memories, they took a bittersweet tinge when he remembered they were never to be repeated again, they belonged to the past, not the present, and he had seen what living in the past could do to a person.

For five months now, he had been living in the past, trapped among the four walls of his room, barely getting out for meals and once in a while, to some Death Eater meeting. During those five months, he had done nothing else but stare for hours at the pages of the books he'd just put away, and wallow in the memories that threatened to drown him like a furious tide.

It was that or succumb to the urge to get down to the cellar and end the poor Ollivander's agony, once and for all, so he didn't have to hear his screams at night. But somehow he knew he would not sleep better if the screams ceased, if he shredded the last ounces of integrity he had left, and so he remained inside his room, staring at the books and letting the hours, days and weeks pass by, hoping like a silly child for the darkness and the sadness to go away.

It was December now, and in a few days the Christmas holidays would begin, and everyone would be going home, or at least the ones who still had a home. He, of course, would be going nowhere. He hadn't gone to Hogwarts this year, mainly because even if the school was now Dark territory, the majority of students in it weren't, and they all knew about his implication in their beloved Dumbledore's death. If he stepped a foot inside the school, not even The Dark Lord would be able to protect him.

He wondered how Professor Snape was coping with it, with the fact that he was the most hated man out there after the Dark Lord, and then quickly banished that thought from his head. He didn't need any more worries.

A sharp knock shook him out of his reverie and he looked towards the door.

'Come in'

The door swung open no sooner the words had left his mouth, and his mother entered the room, a tentative smile on her face and her hands wringing together. She glanced briefly at the fireplace, where the covers of some books could still be recognized among the ashes, and then back at him.

'Draco dear, do you want to come down? Rodolphus has come to dinner, and you haven't seen him in a while.'

He turned away from his mother, not bothering to reply. Deep down he knew he shouldn't be punishing his mother like that. After all, what else could she do but follow the Dark Lord's orders? It wasn't her fault his inept father had been sent to jail and so Draco had had to occupy his place as a Death Eater. She wasn't to blame for the mission the Dark Lord gave him.

He stared at the fireplace, and after a few seconds he heard the door close with a click.

He flopped down on his bed, staring at the dark ceiling, and unconsciously rubbed his ring. The Malfoy ring, a family heirloom, the symbol of all his family and house represented. It had been given to him by his father before his second year at Hogwarts, and though his father never told him the reason why he gave it to him, Draco suspected it had something to do with the events that transpired that year at the school. The silver snake twisted around his finger, as it had once did around his father's, and its eyes were made of emeralds. It was a shame he never got to punch Potter or Weasley, because he knew from personal experience the ring left a nasty cut and an even nastier scar.

He felt something nag at the back of his mind, and for a moment he entertained the possibility of just shoving the memory back down and let it rot in a corner of his mind, but he couldn't do that. Not with a memory that included Luna.

_Somewhere in the library, a book fell to the floor with a dull thud, and Draco looked up from the book he was reading to, straightening up and tensing._

'_Relax, it's just a book that has fallen' the soft voice besides him and the equally soft hand on his forearm distracted his attention and made him glance at the girl sitting by his side. 'Nobody is coming this way, relax' Luna added, smiling slightly. After a second, Draco allowed himself to slump back into the wood panelling they were sitting against._

_It was early March, and a non-stop rain had settled over the castle, making the library much fuller than usual. Under other circumstances, Draco would have just stayed in his room and avoided the packed library, even if it meant not seeing Luna, but after a week of doing so and spending the evenings gloomily sitting in the Slytherin common room, he surrendered and met Luna the next day in the library. However, all the tables were full or half full, and it made him feel horrible, but he couldn't just sit with Luna in a table with two other people and act normal. He couldn't. And he hated himself for it, for how he couldn't let people know his best friend was the Loony girl. As much as he hated it to admit it, he cared too much about his reputation._

_Surprisingly, Luna had understood, and upon seeing how many people were in the library, had instead dragged him to the back of the library to a small space concealed behind a bookshelf in the Philosophy section. It was surprisingly cozy, with a small window that overlooked the lake and wood panelling, and it was just the right size for him to fit in with Luna, and still have enough space to straighten their legs._

_He glanced again at Luna, and sucked in a breath. It was dangerous, what he was doing. Hell, it was the most dangerous thing he had ever done in his whole life, even more than hanging on the windowsill of his room back at Malfoy Manor when he was five, just because he wanted to see if his parents would notice from the garden._

_This was another kind of dangerous, however. Not the kind that left you with broken bones and paraplegic, but the one that left you with your heart broken and with no aim left in life._

_Why did he continue to meet Luna in the library? Why did he continue to chat with her, to exchange ideas and opinions with her, why did he continue to listen to her ramblings about imaginary creatures? And why, why in Merlin's most prized boxers, did he enjoy it so much?_

_He had fallen head first for this girl, he knew it somewhere deep inside him, and even if he was still somewhat in denial, it was becoming increasingly difficult not to aknowledge it, with all the hours they passed together._

_It was just mesmerizing the way she kept her hair all nice and… shiny, and it looked so soft, even with all those loose waves she had, and her eyes were such a warm grey colour… which was weird, considering grey was not generally a warm colour, but hers were and-_

_He was rambling. He was mind-rambling. Ashamed of himself, he quickly directed his gaze back to the book he was currently reading, trying to stop the hotness that was going to his cheeks._

_But being an idiot as he was, he just had to glance again at her. She was reading an Astronomy book, and she was biting her lip, a thing she seemed to do whenever she was concentrating on something. And that made writing an essay much more difficult whenever she was studying in front of him, unconsciously biting her lip and making him loose all the concentration he had and stare like the moronic idiot he was._

_He meant to look away before she noticed, but unfortunately she lifted her head and caught him staring. This time his cheeks nearly combusted with all the warmth that rushed to them, and Draco was sure that they now sported a very interesting red colour, which would probably make a pretty picture when combined with the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look he must have had on his face at the moment._

_Clearing his throat, he shuffled and looked again at his book, trying to keep his face impassive while all the while mentally banging his head against a wall._

_Stupid, awkward, hormonal, soppy, pathetic moron._

'_What are you reading?' she asked, and maybe he had imagined it, but a second he thought she sounded a little breathless._

'_I- uhm…I really don't know' he stated, trying to contain his laughter. This whole situation was possibly the most awkward situation he had ever laid himself in, made ten times more awkward by the fact that the strangest person on Hogwarts was also part of the situation._

_Luna snorted, and he looked at her, smiling widely. He didn't know why they always ended up laughing like fools, but they very usually did, stifling their laughter so Madam Pince didn't kick them out._

_Draco ducked his head, trying to stifle his laugh by concentrating on the book he was reading, and was shocked when Luna gasped and stopped laughing quietly. His head snapped up so fast he got whiplash, and he frowned confused when he saw Luna looked worriedly at him. Well, at his face._

'_What's wrong?' he asked, but Luna just extended her hand to touch the side of his face, just where the cheekbone ended and the hair started._

'_What-'_

_After a second, he understood why she was so worried, and he sighed, catching her hand and pulling it away from the scar concealed by his hair._

'_It's nothing. I fell when I was a kid and got a nasty scar. Just don't tell Potter, I wouldn't want him to think we can start a scar-club'_

_She frowned at him._

'_What did you hit your head against?' she asked, completely ignoring his comment about Potter. It was another thing he liked about her. He knew better than to badmouth Potter and the rest of the Gryffindors in front of her, but when a little snide remark escaped, she didn't pay any mind to it, and for that he was thankful. He didn't fancy apologising every time he said what he thought, even if it was mean._

'_Um, nothing. I mean, a table' he said, and then realised he was still holding her hand. He quickly let go, and patted his hair trying to conceal the scar. It was really nothing big, but sometimes the light reflected on it or something and it showed, and he rather people didn't see._

_He risked a look at Luna, who was looking at him with a mistrusting expression on her face. For a moment he feared she kept pressing the matter, because he knew he would eventually had to tell her that it was in fact his father's ring that had done it, the one that he was wearing now on his right hand, and not a stupid table._

_However, she just shrugged and used her hand to push a little bit of his hair over the scar to conceal it more, and he smiled to himself. Sometimes it scared him how well she knew him._

_And how incredible her hand felt on his skin. Hell, it was wonderful._

'_If you say so' she said, her hand hovering slightly over his scar before taking it back and snatching something from the pocket of her robe. She extracted a battered watch from it, and looked at the hour._

'_What time is it?' he asked, a sudden dread on the pit of his stomach._

'_Half past seven, why?'_

_He hurriedly put his books into his bag, thrown at his feet, and started to get up, before remembering she had asked him a question._

'_I have a meeting with Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad in ten minutes' he grimaced upon thinking of the dreadfully boring two hours he was going to have to endure. Why he had signed up to the Inquisitorial Squad, he did not know. A small voice in the back of his head reminded him that it was probably because his father told him to do it, but he dismissed it. He didn't want to think about his father or anyone from his family. It dampened his mood a lot, and he didn't want to ruin the few moments he had with Luna._

_Luna reached for her bag too._

'_Oh, I thought so. Wait then, I have something for you, for the way' she took out from the bag a shiny green apple, and Draco stifled the need to hug her. 'I know green apples are your favourite, and I brought one for you, I'm sure Umbridge will make you miss dinner because of the meeting.'_

_She handed it to him, and he smiled at her before standing up, tucking his shirt in and putting on his sweater._

'_Thank you Luna. That old codger tends to drone on about stupid things. I think she just likes the sound of her own voice.'_

'_What a horrible woman' Luna replied, looking up at him._

_He glanced at her, smirking._

'_I agree' fastening his bag to his shoulder, he turned to look at her. 'See you tomorrow?'_

_She nodded._

'_Of course. At six. And don't be late. I have an essay for Potions and I need you to help me.'_

_Nodding once, he stepped outside the secret space, shooting one last glance at her smiling face before dissapearing between the rows of shelves._

* * *

So, extra long flashback at the end, did you like it? Next chapter will be posted somewhere in the next two weeks, don't worry.

And remember, I've got a surprise for the person who writes de 170th review. I know it's a lot, but I promise the surprise is WONDERFUL!


	14. Fade

**Prompt: **Fade

**Summary: **It couldn't be her. It couldn't.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, I love each and every one of them! Remember the special surprise for the 170th reviewer!

Also, I'm desperate need of new prompts. In fact, I cannot start a new chapter until I have one, so please, please, **give me new prompts**!

Thanks for all, and ENJOY!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, sadly.

* * *

_Chapter 14:_

He ran the length of the corridor, skidding to a halt in front of the staircase and grabbing the banister to stop him from falling over. He descended the flight of stairs almost flying, but he didn't stop to wonder how on earth he was still standing, since his legs felt like jelly and his heart was trying rather desperately to break free of his ribcage.

It wasn't her. It couldn't be her.

There was really no reason to think Luna was the Hogwarts girl that had been kidnapped by his fellow Death Eaters and was being brought to his house now. It could be any other girl – there was lot of people the Dark Lord wanted to punish.

_Please let it not be her. It can't be her. It can't._

He was suddenly pushing open the heavy oak doors of his living room, and he didn't remember how he'd gotten there, but he didn't care one bit. Scanning the familiar, gloomy room, his eyes fell upon a small gathering near the fireplace.

A group of people were forming a circle, but he couldn't see who was in the middle of it.

His heart was beating so hard he was sure it could be heard, and his chest heaved after the long run. He couldn't breath, as if the raw fear he was feeling now thickened the air around him. It was like treading water. He felt nauseous as he walked forward, his vision blurring at the edges.

'Aunt?' he asked, because her hair was the only one he recognised in the group of people. At first she didn't turn around, but when she did, she left a gap in the circle, revealing who was lying on the floor.

No.

He literally felt the world stopping for a second and then spiralling out of control, making him stumble several steps back.

It was Luna.

Her beautiful blond hair was matted and dirty, and her left cheek was bloodied and swollen, and there were purple shadows under her eyes that hadn't been there the last he'd seen her, a lifetime ago.

'Draco, dear, look who we've got here' her aunt said in a sing song voice, apparently not aware that her nephew was having a heart attack in the middle of the living room.

Luna, who had been looking at the floor, looked up, and locked eyes with Draco, and he felt unable to look away.

'She's in your year, isn't she?'

He took a second to understand what her aunt had said, and blinked a few times, tearing his gaze away from Luna's bloodshot eyes.

'No' he uttered the single word with a flat voice, and cringed inwardly when he said his next words 'In fact, I hardly know her'

He could see the pain in Luna's eyes, but he forced himself to look away. He had to play this game and act as if he didn't care one bit what happened to her, because if his aunt discovered just how much Luna meant to him, Bellatrix would kill her without a doubt. And so seeing the pain in her eyes upon his rejection was a small price to pay.

His aunt made an approving noise from the back of her throat.

'Good Draco, you shouldn't meddle with her filthy kind.' And she turned around and kicked Luna in the stomach with her foot.

Draco felt the blood rush to his head, and he clenched his knuckles, trying to stop the white hot anger that cursed through him and made the urge to get out his wand and kill his aunt unbearable. From the floor, Luna coughed and spluttered, trying to regain her breath, and from the circle of Death Eaters around her came a dry chuckle.

'Wretched blood-traitor'

'Why is she here?' Draco asked, hoping desperately that his aunt took the anger in his voice and his tensed position as hate towards the prisoner, and not for what they really were. Absolute hate towards everyone in that room except the prisoner. Except Luna.

'Oh, her father has been helping Harry Potter with his lunatic magazine, so the Dark Lord thought, correctly of course, that her daughter would be a nice warning for him to stop helping the stupid boy'

If Draco had thought he couldn't feel more scared than he already was, he had been wrong. He didn't dare move a muscle, in case the world fell apart.

They were going to kill Luna?

Somewhere inside him, a searing pain was tearing and shredding his way towards his heart, and he felt the tears well up in his eyes. They couldn't kill Luna. They couldn't. He wouldn't let them. He would defend her until he fell stone dead on the ground, because if she died right in front of his eyes, and he did nothing to help her, he would be good as dead too.

'She's going to die?' this time there was no disguising the anguish in his voice and the way it faltered at the end of the sentence, and his aunt snorted derisively.

'Just like your father, so weak, incapable of killing anyone, even this trash. And so incompetent, like your father. We can't kill her, you stupid brat! If she dies now, her father will rebel and help the boy more! The Dark Lord has said to wait until the boy is dead, and then we can kill every one of his filthy friends'

Somehow, that didn't make his fear fade. If only, it increased it, realising what was going to happen to Luna until Harry Potter died.

'So, why don't we have some fun, little girl? Why don't I bring you down to the cellar and make you pay for what your father did?' Bellatrix cackle reverberated in the stone walls of the living room.

Something inside him snapped. He was done. He wouldn't stand around and see the only person he cared about get hurt and destined to a fate worse than death by his crazy aunt.

'No'

His voice came out strong and firm, and his aunt swivelled around, her eyes big as dinner plates.

'Excuse me?'

'I said no. I'll do it. Aren't you always saying that I'm weak and I need to prove myself? I'll do it. I'll torture her'

One of the masked Death Eaters let out a snort.

'He hasn't got the balls for it'

His aunt, however, smiled sinisterly.

'Okay, do it. But make sure the cries can be heard all over the house, please. I don't want you chickening out at the last minute and letting her without punishment.'

'Don't worry. I'll do it' and with three big strides, he crossed the room to where Luna was, her big grey eyes looking at him in a way that physically hurt him.

He took her by the arm and pulled her up, and started dragging him towards the staircase. He could feel her trembling, and it broke his heart more than it already was, seeing someone as strong as Luna trembling. However, her face was calm, and she walked with a steady pace, and after the second flight of stairs, when they reached the ones that went directly towards the cellar, he loosened the grip on her arm.

They descended the stairs slowly, but not because of Luna. He was slowing down every step, his resolve building up and gripping tighter the wand in his hand.

What he was going to do was the right thing. It was what had to be done. The consequences didn't matter. Not anymore.

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, let go of Luna completely, and lifted his wand.

Luna let out a small exclamation of surprise when he took one of her hands and put his wand in it.

'Go away. Take my wand and disaparate. The anti-disaparition spell doesn't work with the wands of the people who live here. Take it and go, hide somewhere, be safe.'

He closed her hand around the wand, as she stared between the wand and his face, her mouth half parted and her eyes shiny.

He let go of her hand, his wand still in hers.

'Please Luna, go. I can't- I can't do it, and I won't let anyone hurt you. I just wouldn't be able to stand it. Please, please just go' his voice broke on the last sentence, and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

However, she just shook her head, smiling softly, though her eyes also appeared to be more shiny than normal.

'I can't Draco, don't you see? If I leave now, they'll kill you, they won't hesitate in doing it. They'll know you let me get away. And I can't leave, knowing you'd be as good as dead if I did so.'

They were in a small space, their bodies very close together, and if the situation was other, Draco wouldn't have thought a second before closing the space between them and kissing her. A million thoughts raced through his brain, and he looked from her shiny eyes to her lips, noting the lower one of them was busted, and he swore he saw her eyes flicker down to his lips too.

A clatter resonated somewhere in the cellar, and whatever moment that was happening between the two broke.

Her cleared his throat, and then took his wand from her hands.

'Then fake the screams'

'What?'

'Fake them. Scream as loud as you can. I won't crucio you. I can't. So either you leave right now or you do your best to fake the screams.'

She stood still for a moment, and then slowly nodded. He went to open the cellar door to let her in, but she spoke again.

'But you have to promise me something'

He looked at her, uneasily, but nodded also. He trusted her. Luna stood on her peep toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, whispering in his ear.

'Never, never forget that you are a good man, Draco Malfoy. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.' And before he could hug her back, she kissed his cheek and entered the cellar, closing the door behind her.

He stood still a few moments, trying to take in all that had happened in the last few minutes, and then looked back towards Luna, who was slowly walking towards the back of the cellar. When the blackness of the cellar swallowed her whole, he turned around and sat on the first step, pressing his hands to his ears and closing his eyes, his wand laying forgotten on the floor.

But he still heard the screams, and with each one, even if he knew they were fake, he felt his soul slowly dying, and big, sorrowful tears rolling down his cheeks and falling to the floor.

* * *

Poor Draco… he seems to be crying a lot these days, but I think in his situation, it's justified. Plus, I can't help but think of him as a secret softie, deep, deep down. And even if he isn't, everyone needs someone to be there for him once in a while, and Draco hasn't had much of that…

Anyway, review and **GIVE ME NEW PROMPTS** while you're at it, please!


	15. Fear

**Prompt:** so, because I'm such a prompt monster, I'm gonna use ALL of the prompts **princessozmaofoz** gave me. That is; cold, darkness, fear, bruised.

**Summary: **He spent all day worrying, worrying sick about what would happen, what he would do when, _if_ the time came.

So, good news guys. I found out the other day that I had the timeline of the story all messed up, and so when I checked, I realised I needed to add another chapter in order for the story to feel complete (and so I could indulge in more Draco/Luna fluff.) so this chapter's the extra one, and the story will have 17 chapters instead of 16. I know it's not much, but I hope you like it.

This chapter's kinda short, but I don't think it would do if it was more than this.

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**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything.

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_Chapter 15:_

He descended the stairs one by one, measuring his steps. Did he really want to go down? Was it worth the risk?

He paused halfway through a step, listening to the sounds above him. Somewhere in the living room, his aunt was shouting at someone, probably his father, and his mother was off to somewhere, probably buying things the Dark Lord needed. Or whatever. He didn't really care. He couldn't bring himself to care for anything else but the girl in his basement.

That thought strengthened his resolve, and he continued descending the stairs.

Of course it was worth it. She was worth it.

Exposing himself to the wrath of his aunt by going down to the cellar to bring Luna extra food every day after dinner was worth it, if it meant seeing her face lit up every time he arrived to the bottom of the stairs, suppressing a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold.

'Draco? Is that you?'

Her voiced carried up the stairs, and he hurried the last dozen of steps, hitting his heart mentally again and again for beating faster than it should when he heard her voice.

She was sitting against the metal bars of the cellar, her hand drawing circles on the dust outside the cell. She was looking up at him, and eagerly reached for the tray. She disappeared in the darkness of the cellar, and remerged after a few minutes with half the food on the tray gone.

'He isn't that much hungry anymore. All he does now is sleep' she whispered, sitting down on the floor, leaning against the metal bars, while he sat on the other side of the door, his shoulder barely brushing against hers.

He couldn't risk to open the door, just in case anybody went down the stairs. It was like when he couldn't be seen with her in school because he feared the mockery of his housemates, but with a deadlier outcome.

The hours they spent sitting shoulder to shoulder, separated by the cold bars of the cellar door, was a sicker, twisted reminder of what one day they had had, and never would again.

Every day Draco would listen into the conversations his aunt and father had with the various Death Eaters who visited the manor, hoping and fearing at the same time to hear news of Potter. He knew the second they captured Potter and his friends, it would be free reign to kill all of the friends of the Undesirable Number One, and Luna would be dead in less time that you could say 'heartbroken'.

He spent all day worrying, worrying sick about what would happen, what he would do when, _if_ the time came. Against all odds, he still had a little bit of hope left inside him, but he had never been a very optimistic person, and he wasn't taking any chances.

He had decided the same night Luna had arrived that if the time should come when Luna's life was placed in danger (more than it already was), he wouldn't be able to just stand by and watch her get killed. But what, what was he prepared to do, when, _if_ the time came? Would he be able to kill his aunt, his father or even his mother should the need arise? How far would he be willing to go?

'You seem worried'

Her voice cut him out of his daydream, and he looked at her, not bothering to put a fake smile in his face. It wouldn't work with Luna anyway.

'And who isn't, these days?'

She took his hand, squeezing it tight, and he let out a breath.

'I think the word isn't worried though, I think you seem more scared than anything else, to be true' she replied, and he looked up at her, a spark in his eyes.

'And who isn't, these days?' he repeated, and she smiled, _smiled_, at him. A big, toothy smile, the kind of one she used to give him, so long ago. The kind that lit up her bruised face, and for a moment, all the bruises dissapeared.

'There, just now.' She said.

'What?'

'You were the old you again. The happy one'

Draco doubted there had been a time he had been truly happy, but if anyone could believe it, it would be Luna. So instead of correcting her, he squeezed her hand, like she had done before.

It had become a familiar gesture for them, holding hands, and it stung every time he thought about all it had taken for him to hold her hand and not blush to the root of his hair was a goddamned war. And somehow just holding hands now didn't seem enough. He wanted more, much more, and now that he had realised he might never have it, he didn't know what to do with himself.

He sighed.

'Maybe I am a little bit scared. Well, more than a little bit scared. Much more' Draco looked down at their intertwined hands.

'And why? You shouldn't be'

He looked up at her with an eyebrow raised, and she chuckled.

'I know it's totally irrational not to be scared, but I can't bring myself to feel scared, you know?'

'And why not? After all, we're in the middle of a war'

Luna smiled at him, but this time it was a different kind of smile, one he couldn't quite pinpoint on one specific emotion, and he was normally very good at reading people.

But as always, all the things he had ever learned and trusted fell apart when Luna was there.

'I'm not scared, because he's protecting me. The man I love is protecting me from all harms, and that's why I'm not scared. I'm in love, Draco, that's why I'm not scared'

If took all of the self restraint he had not to let her hand go as though he had been burned and bolt up the stairs and just fucking disappear, but he managed it by averting his gaze and fixating it on one lone pile of dust in the corner.

If he had looked up at that moment, he would have seen Luna's gaze steadily fixed on him, and he would have understood, because he wasn't all that oblivious, mind you, but he didn't look up, and so he didn't see Luna, and he didn't understand. Not because he was oblivious or daft, but because his unconscious ruled out the possibility of him being the man Luna was talking about even before it had been formed into a full thought.

It was just very difficult for him to believe she would want someone as damaged, prone to evil and utterly messed up as he was, and so it was much easier to just believe something else.

And to be honest, he was tired, oh so tired.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

That night, as he lay in his bed, his arms crossed under his head and staring at the ceiling, he recalled time and time again the conversation, lingering on one specific sentence, and letting the soft sound of Luna's voice carry him to sleep.

_I'm in love, Draco._

And that night, just for that night, Draco Malfoy dreamt about being the man Luna was talking about.

And for the first time in months, he didn't have nightmares.

* * *

The end seems kinda sloppy to me, but I just wanted to give you this chapter already. Sorry for the long wait!

Hope everyone is having a lovely holiday!

Remember, **reviews are awesome**!


	16. Instinct

**Prompt: **instinct, fear, passion.

**Summary:** This was the final battle. After the dust had settled on the castle's floor, there would be no more fighting. And it scared him to no end not knowing who would remain standing when the smoke cleared.

I'm so ashamed at myself, I'm a horrible person. I promised all of you this would be over before Christmas, and here we are, APRIL, and still two more chapters to go. I could blame a writer's block for this atrocious delay, but really, I just battled with myself over how I should go about this and the next chapter. I've tried to be somewhat faithful to the books and films up till here (okay, kinda off, but this is a Luna/Draco story, you knew there wasn't a lot of canon in it), but from now on, people, I fear I might stray into the AU a little bit. You'll all suspect why, and I hope it doesn't bother you.

Thank you for all the lovely reviews, they're really the thing that push me to write. Keep them comin'

Oh, one last thing. This chapter's dedicated to **Sepsis**, for the truly awesome review. It made my day, really. :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own a bloomin' thing people, not a tiny little thing!

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_Chapter 16:_

'Narcissa!'

Bellatrix's screech resonated through the walls of the living room as the door opened with a bang.

Startled, Draco looked up from the book he was reading, or rather trying to read, and like always when his aunt shouted near him, a crippling fear overcame him, his mind going wild for a second and jumping to the conclusion Bellatrix knew something she shouldn't.

'The Dark Lord needs us! They've got Potter! Finally! We're gonna fight, we're gonna fi-i-ight!' she almost sang the last part, and Draco let out an imperceptible sigh of relief, until-

'He's in Hogwarts! The boy's in Hogwarts! This is our chance to crush them all like the dirty little cockroaches they are!'

And there it was. The realisation. A fight. Luna... When the words sunk in, he scrambled up from his chair, book flying to the floor. His mother, who had been silent up to that point, rose up too, looking at him sternly.

'Absolutely not dear.' She turned towards Bellatrix 'Surely Draco isn't required to go? He won't fight, he's just a boy!'

Oh. It seemed his mother had mistaken his sheer horror for eagerness. Lovely.

His first instinct was to go along with his mother's mistaken idea and sit it out, and the second one to crush that thought and chuck it away. Now was not the time to be a coward, damnit. If Potter was at Hogwarts, then Luna would be too. She had escaped with them after all, and Potter was an egoistic prick, he'd want as much audience as possible when he defeated The Dark Lord, so he'd have taken her with him.

Or- the thing he feared most- she'd have gone willingly.

'He won't go!'

'I think he's old enough to decide for himself, sister. Draco, dear?'

'Yes, aunt Bellatrix?'

'Do you want to fight?' his aunt smiled wickedly at his mother, whose mouth was pressed into a thin line.

Draco swallowed once, twice, and then answered.

'Yes' _just not for the side you want me to._

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

Chaos.

Everyone was running, walls were exploding left and right, the mingled screams and shouts made an unbearable loud noise and the flying jets of light of the curses being thrown illuminated Hogwarts in an unsettling way.

And among the chaos was Draco Malfoy, dodging curses and rolling over debris, in the process ignoring every instinct and ounce of common sense he had ever been taught.

He didn't remember when exactly he had decided to shed the last ounce of sanity he had left, but it must have been around the time when he had let that crazy girl with the platinum hair get a hold of his heart, such a long time ago. He had just taken a bloody long time to realise it.

Draco Malfoy was man with a mission, but not the mission The Dark Lord via his aunt had given him.

He was done pretending. The time to look the other way and fake being someone he didn't want to be was over. Tonight was the final battle, of that he was sure. Somehow he knew everything would be decided in a few hours. After the dust had settled on the castle's floor, there would be no more fighting.

And it scared him to no end not knowing who would remain standing when the smoke cleared.

'Watch out!'

Draco threw himself to the ground with his hands over his head, narrowly missing an enormous chandelier on its way down. He didn't know who had screamed at him to move, but it hardly mattered.

Coughing and batting his hands to clear way the soot, he stood up. He was on the seventh floor, and in front of him laid a piece of an ancient tapestry, depicting what it appeared to be a ballet shoe and a troll's club. Pushing it aside with his foot, he looked around. The corridor was clear, except – oh Merlin- someone buried under the chandelier. He hoped it wasn't the person that had warned him earlier. He didn't know where the rest of the people on the corridor had gone, but he wasn't going to stick around and figure it out. He only had minutes until Crabbe and Goyle realised they had lost him and began searching, and they weren't _so_ stupid, they would eventually realise he was probably waiting for them, and they'd made their way towards the Room of Requirement, the very place he was now.

His aunt had only told him he needed to retrieve something very important for The Dark Lord, given him its exact location, and commanded him to guard it with his life.

He snorted.

As if he was going to waste his life guarding something precious to The Dark Lord, of all people. There was only one thing, or rather someone, he was going to guard with his life tonight, and he was going to find her right after he finished what he had come here to do.

Give whatever the precious thing was to Potter and his sidekicks.

Before his eyes, an enormous, thick wooden door appeared, and grasping his wand tightly, Draco entered the Room of Hidden Things.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

Third corridor to the left, stop at the fake potted tree and continue on until he reached the cabinet... deeper and deeper into the room he went, all the alarms in his head going on in his head at the same time and the sweat dripping down his forehead.

Finally he stopped, looking at the small box on top of a worn out table, dumbfounded. The precious thing was a diadem? What in the name of Merlin... was The Dark Lord going to put it on or something? It must look lovely with his skin colour or something, because if not he couldn't explain how this was something precious to The Dark Lord. He had thought it was going to be some sort of huge weapon, a hidden asset to turn the battle in his favour, not a bloody piece of jewellery!

'Don't move!'

Oh, great, Potter had arrived. He raised his hands and slowly turned around. Before him was the Golden Trio in all their glory, wands raised and at the ready, and of course, aimed at the wrong person. But then again, what else were they supposed to think? He hadn't exactly told his plans to anybody.

'Draco, what a lovely surprise' said Weasley between clenched teeth.

'What a lovely surprise indeed' Draco replied back with disdain. Even if he was helping them, that didn't mean he was obliged to like them. He then turned to look at Potter, who was – _of course!_ – in the middle of the formation, and spoke to him directly. 'You need to get the diadem and go, _now_. Crabbe and Goyle won't be far behind.'

If the situation wasn't quite as serious, he would have laughed until he cried at their dumbfounded faces. What a sight.

'What? How- But what are you doing here?' Potter asked, still aiming his wand at him.

'I am trying to help you and now please, if you could stop pointing me with your wands that would be fantastic, thank you'

Potter started to lower his wand, but Weasley seized his arm, stopping him.

'No, Harry! Don't you see it's a trap?'

'Weasley, I really, really hate you. With a passion. But you need to believe me, it's not a trap. Take the diadem and run!' he stressed the last word in hopes that one of them would stop staring at him and luckily take the damn thing and disappear before Crabbe and Goyle managed to enter the room.

'Why are you doing this, Malfoy? Why are you helping us?' the bookworm asked, and he glared at her.

'I have my own reasons Granger. Now hurry up.'

After a beat, Potter finally took down his wand and started walking towards him and the diadem, but the sound of footsteps made him stop.

Draco swallowed heavily. Damn it.

'Too late' he murmured.

One second later Crabbe and Goyle came into view.

'Hey Draco, here you are! We've been looking all over for you, you disappeared on-'

Upon seeing Potter, they immediately took out their wands, and Draco sighed.

'Thank you for coming on my rescue, you always have the perfect timing' he drawled, and Crabbe looked at him.

'Really?'

'No. But now you're here, we can take what The Dark Lord his trinket, and Potter!'

'No!' Weasley shouted, pointing his wand at Draco, Granger doing the same.

Goyle looked at the pair, and his eyes got big. Draco watched in horror, knowing what Goyle was planning to do, but suddenly unable to move.

'The mudblood's here! _Avada Kedavra_!'

'Goyle no!' he lunged forward, seizing Goyle's arm.

And it all pretty much went down to hell from there.

Granger managed to dodge the curse, but Weasley started to throw Stunning Spells and such at them, and the room lit up with the curses and various profanities being flown around.

Ducking a Disarming spell from Weasley, Draco managed to grab the diadem with his free hand.

Instantly, a wave of the deepest hatred he had experienced washed through him, and he looked around, dazed. Why did he have to help these people? They had done nothing but hate him and despise him since the beginning, and that wouldn't change. Ever. And Luna… she was one of them. Who said she loved him? Or even liked him? She hated him, like everyone else. Why should he risk his life for someone who wasn't worth it? She wasn't worth it! SHE WASN'T WORTH IT!

'Malfoy!'

Potter's voice got to him like a bucket of cold water, and he tried to wrench himself away from the numbing hatred he felt, looking fearfully at the diadem in his hands.

That insignificant piece of jewellery was doing this?

'Malfoy, snap out of it!'

He felt someone drag him up – how had he ended up on the floor in the first place? – and Weasley's cry somewhere behind him.

'Harry what are you doing? Let's go! He's gone mad and conjured up a fire!'

A fire? Who had-? Looking over Potter's shoulder he could see the outline of Crabbe laughing, wand pointed at a gigantic serpent… made out of fire. Brilliant. Shoving Potter out of the way, he advanced towards Crabbe.

'What have you done, you stupid bumblering idiot?'

'They like it hot, this scum! I'm gonna teach them a lesson!'

The serpent lunged forward and caught fire to the desk the diadem had been on, which quickly spread to the chest of drawers beside it.

'STOP IT! You are going to fucking kill us all! Stop it Crabbe, I said stop it!' he tried to wrestle the wand out of Crabbe's hands, but that only seemed to anger the fire serpent further, and Draco watched in horror as it caught fire to one of the shelves surrounding the area they were in. Finally, Crabbe seemed to realize something was not right with his spell, and waved his wand around, but the fire seemed totally out of control now.

'I can't- I can't' he went on and on, and Draco looked around, trying to find an escape, totally ignoring Goyle, who had just come round from a Stunning Spell and was asking what was happening.

He could hear the shouts from Potter and his friends, but when he looked at them, all he saw was fire. With horror he realized a wall of fire separated them now, and through it he could just spot Potter, expression full of fear matching his own.

It was not supposed to go like this.

With a jolt he remembered he somehow still had the diadem in his hand, and looking around the fire that seemed to grow bigger an angrier, he did the only thing he could do.

It shouldn't have come to this

'Potter, catch it!' he threw the diadem through the air and watched as Potter, with years and years of Seeker experience, caught it in the air.

'Run!' Draco shouted through the fire, and watched with exasperation as Potter shook his head.

'We can't leave you here!'

'Yes you can! And you will! Now go! Go, Potter, GO!'

Potter stared at him for a few long seconds, and Draco stared right back, the fire creating shadows in his eyes and his face. Then Granger grabbed Potter and they disappeared around the corner.

Clenching his teeth, he prayed they would get out in time. Then maybe they would win the battle, and with any luck, Luna would still be there when the dust cleared, and one day Potter or one of the others would tell her how Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Prince, the Death Eater, had helped them.

And she would understand. She always did.

She would understand he did it for her.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

Eventually, his stupid Slytherin instincts of self-preservation won out over the knowledge that there was just no way out, and he began to climb the mountain of piled things that weren't yet engulfed by the flames, Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

And higher and higher he went, some part of him just wanting to stop and succumb to the inevitable, and other part of him, quite a surprising part, that wanted to die fighting, die doing anything but giving in.

He reached the top of the mountain first, and looked down in the exact moment Crabbe lost his footing and tumbled down.

'Crabbe!' he tried pointlessly to summon him back up with a spell, but Crabbe fell right into the mouth of the giant fire serpent he had conjured. How ironic. 'Crabbe! CRABBE! VINCENT!'

Goyle arrived to where he was and numbly Draco held out his hand and hoisted him up.

Crabbe was dead.

'Oh my- Draco look, look at that!' Goyle began jumping up and down, waving his arms like mad, and all Draco wanted to do at that moment was push him off the edge. He wanted to die alone and in peace, not with an idiotic boy who had gone mad with the heat. If he was truthful, he didn't want Goyle's face to be the last thing he saw. He wanted to see her eyes, and her smile, and her small arms embracing him, wild blonde hair flying everywhere.

'Draco look!'

'Oh, would you just shut up! What do you want me to look at? The fire? My untimely demise?'

'No, no- them! They're gonna rescue us!'

WHAT?

He looked where Goyle was pointing, and wanted to laugh out loud. He could distinguish three people, flying – on brooms?

One half of him wanted to kill Potter for being such a stubborn fool, and the other one wanted to hug him and cry like a baby.

But he just held his hand out and caught Potter's hand – bloody hell, he might just have to start calling him Harry, after he saved his life – and latched onto the back of his jacket, closing his eyes tightly.

And suddenly they were out of the scorching heat, out into the castle again, and the air never seemed so pure and he may very possibly be the first person glad to be back into the biggest battle of the history of his world.

They hit the ground with unusual force, and Draco rolled on the floor, his ribs shouting in protest and white hot lights blinding him. He laid there, chest heaving, hoping against hope that he still had every limb.

He tried to get up, tried to find something to hold on to, since his legs wouldn't listen to him, and just as he managed to stand up and look around, spotting with horror the black robes of the Death Esters near him, everything exploded.

One second he was shakily standing up and the next he was flying, colliding with the wall behind him with much more force than before. This time he didn't try to get up, and instead focused more on how his lungs seemed to have been crushed and the air just wouldn't go in them. He coughed and spluttered, and he swore he tasted blood, but he was finally able to get some air inside him. It hurt like hell, but at least that meant he was still alive.

'Fred – no! NO!'

The cry chilled him to the bone. Through his blurred vision, he was able to spot Potter and his ginger friends… one of them wasn't moving…

'Fred – no, no!'

One of the twins.

Dead.

Like Crabbe.

Like so many others.

The last thought seemed to work as a trigger, and suddenly he was up, up and running, running away from the heartbreaking scene, his legs and arms and body protesting and wailing at him to stop, to take a breath, to likely pass out… and his brain and his heart urging him to go faster and faster, to find her and ensure she wasn't the focus of another heartbreaking scene like the one he had just witnessed...

He passed corridors and classrooms, wrenching open doors and ignoring the other fighters, dodging curses, but never throwing them back. He didn't have time for that. And partly he didn't want to curse every person he met that was on the Dark Side. He couldn't help but think that maybe some of them were like him, and didn't actually know what the hell they were doing there.

What if they were fighting just because they hadn't found anything else to fight for?

He couldn't go around cursing people thinking that.

After a while, when he had gone around half of the castle, he started thinking that maybe he was too late. That maybe she was…

He had searched everywhere he thought she might have been, to no avail. Wasn't the rational thing to do to think she was dead? Death wasn't so uncommon around here lately, after all. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that was it

'No…' he stopped running, finally, and leaned on the heavy doors of the Great Hall. It was teeming with people, fighting, shouting… some had even resorted to kicking one another. But he was invisible. Somehow no one noticed him. It was as if he was just another dead body on the floor, far beyond any help. And maybe he was. Maybe he was just a ghost running around, passing through people. Maybe he had die in the Room of Requirement, or in the explosion afterwards, and he was just so keen on saving Luna that his soul had carried on without his body.

The idea didn't frighten nearly as much as it should.

Another explosion – Merlin, when were they going to stop? – rocked the walls of the castle, and he grabbed the door with both hands, discarding the idea that he was a ghost. So still alive. Yeah. Well, if Luna was dead, he didn't want to be alive. Not anymore.

What would he do with his life, if the thing that made him get up in the morning was gone? Would he just lay there, looking at the ceiling, until he withered away? No, seriously, what the bloody hell was he going to do with his life?

The cold voice that suddenly filled the corridors did nothing to placate his fears. The Dark lord was announcing a truce, oh how nice of him, a truce to gather their dead and bring him Potter – ha, as if anyone in this castle would betray him like that at this stage. Well, know he would have time to find out whether Luna was really dead – dead dead dead – and if she was, prepare himself mentally to die in the next part of the battle, because he didn't expect to last more than half an hour.

However, he didn't move an inch. He suddenly couldn't. He didn't know how much time he stood there, grabbing one of the Great Hall doors like his life depended on it, watching as the people started to regroup and bring the dead in – Heart thudding painfully every time he spotted someone with blonde hair being carried in.

Oh, how dramatic he was being, his aunt Bellatrix would have been delighted if she had been able to see him, she was all for being dramat-

Though he knew that was impossible, he swore he physically felt the world stop turning and everything standing still the second he laid eyes on her. She was coming down the marble staircase, sixty feet away from him. Her hair was partially singed and her face was covered in soot, her jumper torn, but her eyes were still the same. She was still the same. His eyes drank her in, her face, her eyes, her body, everything.

She wasn't dead. She wasn't dead. She wasn't dead.

His heart threatened to break out of his chest, or he was just having a heart attack, but it was nothing compared to the pain he had felt when he thought she was dead.

His lips parted, pronouncing her name, and though it was too low for her to possibly hear, Luna looked at him, and my Merlin, no one in his life had ever looked at him, not like that, not ever.

She stopped walking, her left foot hovering over the marble staircase, her eyes trained on his, and suddenly the world was turning again, moving, moving too fast, and the only thing that remained still were Draco and Luna.

Her lips parted, but he never got to hear what they said – if they said anything at all – for The Dark Lord's voice penetrated the walls again.

'Your time is up'

* * *

MUAHAHAHA I'm evil, I know, I'm sorry to leave you hanging like this, but I'll be worth it! I was seriously thinking about cutting it in the part where Potter gets the diadem and leaves, but I thought you might kill me, so I left it here instead.

Hope you liked it and expect the next chapter (yes, THE LAST CHAPTER) up before Thursday.

Please review to let me know what you think!

:)


	17. Together

**Prompt: **love, fear, together (all from **Sillylittleme**)

**Summary:** The Final Battle. And no, he wasn't talking about the bloody, atrocious wizarding battle raging right now in the middle of the school...

Notes at the end of the chapter

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything, very, very sadly...

* * *

_Chapter 17:_

'_Your time is up' 'Your time is up'_

The disembodied voice flooded the hallways and corners of the castle, shaking it to its foundations.

Their time was up.

Draco was pushed aside from where he was standing by the throng of people marching forward towards the courtyard, and broke eye contact with Luna to look around him.

That was when the reality of the situation caught up with him.

They were going to die.

Potter had screwed up – _again _– and now there was no hope left. Well, not that there was much to start with. Seriously, couldn't the bloody moron do something right for a change? Merlin, it was so frustrating.

He looked again at the spot where she had been standing moments earlier, but it was empty. For an insane moment he thought he had hallucinated the past few seconds and fear overtook him, but then he saw a flash of blond hair amidst the crowd. Finally regaining some sort of coherent thought process, he pushed through the crowd, trying to get to her. Damnit it all to fucking hell. He wasn't dying without talking to her again. Without letting her know that he'd gone insane without her presence grounding him to all the things that mattered, and that he'd battle Voldemort himself if it meant having one more afternoon in the library with her.

Her blonde mane going in and out of focus, he pushed the crowd, who seemed to be going in a definite direction, as if moved by an unknown force. Or maybe Voldemort had given out instructions, and he just hadn't heard because he was so focused on Luna. His hearing and listening abilities had certainly diminished in the last few hours, and he wondered in the back of his head if maybe he hadn't burst an eardrum. Or both. With his luck, anything could be.

The chill air of the courtyard washed over him like a balm, masking for a moment the stench of blood and sweat and tears that smothered the throng he was in. A throng that seemed to have stopped, quite suddenly at that. They were all just kinda of standing there, not moving, their eyes fixated on a spot in front of them. He pushed aside a tall lanky Hufflepuff and advanced a couple of steps.

Oh. _Oh._

They were looking at Voldemort, standing in the middle of the courtyard, a line of Death Eaters behind him blocking the only escape, and the half-giant, who was holding a body between his arms and crying into his beard.

A desperate scream rose from somewhere in the crowd, and he watched, not quite understanding, the youngest Weasley lunge forward a few steps before being stopped by her father. Then another shout rose up in the crowd, and then another. And they all said the same.

'Harry! No!'

Draco felt his eyes fill with tears, partly of anger because he couldn't believe Harry had just gone and deserted them all by dying, and secondly because he understood the pain behind the cries. At least on a theoretical level, but that was enough to wrench tears from his eyes. He would cry like that too, if she was dead.

It was only later that he realized it had been the first time he had thought of Potter as Harry, and it seemed miserably fitting. The proud Slytherin would only call his enemy by his name in death. Enemy. He snorted. Oh, how the tables had changed.

'Harry Potter is dead!' the crowd of Death Eaters laughed, and he swallowed, willing to look away from the bundle in Hagrid's arms.

Behind him, a small shuffle of feet made him turn his face minutely, trying not to draw attention to himself but burning to see her up close. He'd know that step anywhere. And he wasn't wrong. Luna stood mere feet behind him, within arm's length, looking at him like she had done earlier in the staircase, and he felt his breath catch in his throat and his heart stutter in his chest.

Oh, there were so many things he'd like to tell her. So many things he wanted to say, but this was not the place, nor the time. It never was, for them. And now, it never would.

Still, he continued to stare at her, to drink her in, while in the middle of the courtyard Voldemort, the Dark Lord, gave them the chance to come with him and join his army. Draco felt sick to his stomach and quickly looked away from Luna's gaze, turning to look at the macabre spectacle before him. The Dark Mark on his arm burned, burned right to the bone, spreading pain through his limbs, but he didn't move an inch. It was as if it new its owner was no longer faithful to his Lord.

He stared at the ranks of Death Eaters, trying to see some kind of humanity, of something that wasn't stone cold hatred, and he failed. Shivers ran through his spine. Had he been like this, once? Had looked upon the rest of the world like they were doing now?

'Draco' his name, whispered with furious urgency, shook him back to reality. His father was standing in the middle of the Death Eater formation, battered and bruised, and holding out a hand to him.

As if.

He continued to stare at the mountains behind them, ignoring his father's urgent voice, because he couldn't listen to them. It tore at his heart. He had never cared much for his father, but the emotion and the desperation behind the plea were clear and raw. The doubt crept its way into his brain.

'Draco' his mother's voice was much gentler, the same he had heard and cherished in his childhood. 'Come'. She didn't extend her hand like his father had done, she just looked at him with infinite sadness, and he faltered. He looked away, trying to run away from the conflicting emotions pursuing him without actually moving a limb.

For a moment, he doubted. He doubted whether to go back with his parents, back to where he came from, back to where his chances of living outnumbered his chances of dying. For a moment, a perfect, little moment in time, he doubted. He thought of what could be, what could happen, if he took that step towards his family. Towards the dark.

For a second, he doubted.

And the next second, he _knew._

Draco then took the step that was so simple, and yet so final, so decisive, it scared him out of his wits, but at the same time gave him strength he hadn't thought possible.

He stepped backwards. Towards Luna.

Because, really, was there ever any other choice? Would it be worth living, knowing that he had betrayed her at the last moment? He had known the answer to that question a long time ago, and it was no. _It wouldn't be worth it._ She had made him better, so much better, without even knowing she was doing it. And now, thanks to that, he was certain. It was never about the what ifs and could be and whatnot, because those were sad, hopeless dreams, and what he wanted wasn't a dream, nor was it sad. He'd have to come back on the hopeless thing, given that they were facing an entire army and their hero was dead, _but_, somehow, he would find a way to pay her back for everything she had done for him.

And it started now, not leaving her when she needed him.

Before the astounded look of the whole school, he took her hand in his, and squared his shoulders, looking at his parents in the face. His father wore the stony mask he had seen him wear all his life, and cold disappointment bled through it, but it wasn't exactly news to Draco. That was his father's normal face. His mother however, looked close to tears, although he swore he saw a tiny, barely there, upwards turn of her lips. At least his mother understood.

'Draco' this time his name was whispered close to his ear, and he looked down at her face, her bruised and dirty face, and the smile that graced her lips was almost blinding. He felt their hands, fitting together like pieces of a puzzle, and suddenly he didn't quite mind if he was going to die in the next few seconds, because there was Luna, her smile, and her face, and their hands.

'Well then, this is quite a surprise, Draco' drawled Voldemort, and Draco looked at him, fixing him with the coldest sneer he could manage. All those years of practice weren't going to be useless now. Of course, Voldemort being Voldemort, didn't even flinch, but Draco felt better nonetheless. 'May I ask why?'

'You wouldn't understand. You never do' came the instant reply, and he heard the collected intake of breath of the whole courtyard as he stared down the most powerful wizard of the world.

But Voldemort just curled back his lips, his gaze flickering to Luna, and Draco hated himself, knowing whatever happened to her would be his fault now. As if sensing his sudden tension, Luna squeezed his hand, holding it tighter.

Voldemort's attention shifted when Longbottom stepped forwards, and for a wild second Draco actually thought the idiot was going to change sides. Luckily, it all was a big Gryffindor show of bravery, and it all was pointing towards Longbottom being blown to smithereens at the end of his speech, when suddenly he drew a sword, a _sword_ - from the Sorting Hat. Who kept swords in hats?

Draco didn't have time to ponder about what the hell was going on, because suddenly the world turned upside down, again. It was getting repetitive.

Harry, Potter, whatever, somehow rolled out of the half-giant's grip and stood up – wonderful, fantastic, letting all his friends think he was fucking dead and then it turns out that Potter just had a penchant for drama and big entrances. It was instinct that made him reach for his wand and counterattack a spell thrown at Luna, but none other than his aunt. Oh, this was lovely. Peachy. He started throwing courses at her, the names of spells rolling out of his mind and into the wand, not noticing they had reached the inside of the castle until Luna grabbed him by the arm and threw him to the side, behind a door.

They looked at each other for two beats, before Luna kissed him on the cheek and said.

'Thanks Draco.'

'You're – welcome?' the last word came out almost as a question, and Draco cursed himself for not saying something else. Something that needed to be said.

A curse send bits of door down towards them, and he shielded his face from the debris, while Luna deflected a Stunning Spell thrown at them before turning quickly towards him.

'I'm gonna go fight' he caught the implicit 'don't go following me and get killed because you tried to protect me' and just nodded, trying to find something to say that wasn't 'Don't die' 'I love you' or 'How does your hair still smell that nice'. Instead, he just said

'Later'

'Later' she replied, bouncing off to fight in the Great Hall. He followed out of the door's cover a second later, searching the courtyard for his aunt, willing away the horrible, sinking feeling that tore at him. Those would have been terrible last words to say to each other.

_**D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M-D-M**_

Eventually, like all things, the fight stopped. Potter did his last act of bravery – which ended, luckily, with him not being killed – and the last Death Eaters were either arrested or chased until they Disapparated.

Just like he had said, the dust settled over the debris of the castle, and just like he had said, he was afraid, terribly afraid, of not knowing who was still standing now that he could see again. As soon as people began swarming into the Great Hall, he shook off the nurse that had been trying to put some ointment on his arm where a Flaming curse had hit him, and wandered off, not willing to sit there and be stared at like he had grown two heads. He looked for her around the Great Hall, and even went into the library, before his tour began to remind painfully of the one he'd taken just a few hours ago, and fear and paranoia began to overwhelm him. Again. He was truly getting repetitive, and just a little bit pathetic. When had he reached a state where he couldn't let her out of his sight and not feel anxious?

He ended up back at the Great Hall, where he searched for a familiar face – okay, they were all familiar, but he wasn't about to ask any of them if they had seen Luna – he hadn't reached that level of pathetic, thankfully.

'Hey, Malfoy!'

He turned around, trying not to roll his eyes when he saw Potter limp towards him. What did the savior of mankind want now?

'I just wanted to thank you'

'Whatever for?'

He really didn't have time for this conversation. He needed to find Luna now.

'You know, back in the Room of Requirement, and then when you faced Voldemort in –'

'Look Potter, I'm gonna say something now and never repeat it again, ok?' Draco took a deep breath, trying to find the words. 'I didn't do what I did because I believe in you, or your group of friends or whatever. I'm really glad you're alive, but I didn't do it for you, ok?'

Potter raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face.

'Oh, I know.' He lifted his arm, and Draco already had a string of courses prepared if he even dare hugging him, but Potter just reached and patted his shoulder. 'Thank you, nonetheless.'

He then started walking towards Ginger and Granger, who were waiting for him at the entrance of the Great Hall, but not before yelling. 'I think Luna's outside, if you wanted to know'

Sneaky bastard.

Draco huffed unceremoniously and marched right past the Golden Trio, shooting Potter the most potent glare he could, before breaking into a sprint till he reached the door that led to the grounds that sloped gently towards the lake. He tried to not look at the few bodies still scattered around, being gently picked up by some of the adults. Merlin, they were just _children_.

He stood there, on the archway, just before touching the grass, looking at the gentle spring morning, and the reflection of the sky on the lake. He suddenly knew where she was, but he still didn't move. He didn't want to move.

He felt like he was at the edge of a cliff, looking at the horizon, totally aware that the next expect would plunge him into the unknown. The possibly deadly unknown.

Because, against all odds, they had survived, the dust had settled, and they were both alive and in the same side, and they sky was blue and everything should be alright with the world but it wasn't, it wasn't because he had suddenly remembered that Luna was in _love_, in love with someone that wasn't him, and that love had protected her where he hadn't. Oh, who was he kidding, she probably thought he was a fool. Oh Merlin, oh Merlin, he had made a fool of himself in front of the whole school. Fuck. His family had fucking imprisoned her! In their own cellar! For crying out loud, his aunt had tried to murder her, multiple times! Oh, and his father too. Great. Perfect. Brilliant.

He felt sweat prickling on his back, and he almost turned round that moment and ran away, far far away where no one knew Luna Lovegood or her secret love or the epically pathetic life of Draco Malfoy, falling for the good girl and fooling himself into thinking she had fallen for him too.

He actually turned around, facing the interior of the castle, before stopped dead on his tracks.

Even if she didn't love him, which she didn't, that was clear, he did owe her an apology, for everything him and his family had done to her, and maybe, just maybe, if he somehow found the courage to do it, tell her he loved her. Then he could go and throw himself off a cliff or something, before coming back to life and dying all over again of embarrassment. But whatever, at least he'd had said it.

It was time to move on. Where and with who, he didn't know, but he couldn't spend the rest of his life wondering and wishing and wallowing in that never ending sadness.

He counted the steps towards the tree, that tree on the edge of the forest but not quite part of it, and was surprised to find it had remained intact, without a single branch bent or broken, like most of the other trees in the grounds.

There wasn't anyone sitting underneath, but he didn't worry. She was there. When he arrived underneath the tree, he sat down, letting his had fall against the trunk, and looked up. He was right. There, sat between two branches was Luna, her feet dangling in mid air.

'Hey' she said softly, looking down.

'Hey' he replied back, feeling suddenly very peaceful. In a matter of minutes, all would be over, and the memory of her would just be another thing in the endless list of things he could never have.

She descended gracefully, coming to land on her feet beside him, and she sat down, their shoulders resting together. They stared at the lake and the small ripples that arrived to the shore, and he spared small glances at her, his chest constricting painfully when he saw the dreamy smile on her face. It contrasted oddly with the bruises on her face.

'You said later. Now is later' she said after a while. Draco swallowed. This was the beginning of the end. Step one, an apology. Step two, a confession. Step three, rejection. He knew how this story was going to end.

'Luna, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry'

'Why?' she asked, a small smile on her face.

'Because of the mess of a family I have. I mean, it wasn't bad enough that my father tried to… kill you two years ago, now my aunt too, several times, and all of this is my fault, because I wasn't strong enough to-'

'To what, Draco? To get yourself killed because of me?' he looked at her, astounded. She sounded almost angry. There was no trace of the dreamy Luna that was there a second ago.

'No! But I should've done something, anything! I shouldn't have just stood by and watched-'

'But you didn't just stand there and watch! You didn't!' she said, turning to look at him 'Oh Draco, don't apologize to me. There's nothing to apologize for. Nothing.'

She got to her knees, planting a small hand on his cheek, making him look at her. His heart felt as though it would give out any second, and he felt his tattered soul wither more and more with each passing second. He had thought being near her would calm him, but it didn't. It just reminded him of the empty space that would fill his life from that moment on.

'Yes there is. There's everything to apologize for.' He replied, his jaw clenched. She put her free hand on his other cheek.

'Then you are forgiven, always and completely forgiven'

He couldn't help it. His eyes burned, and he closed his eyes, imagining just for a second, just for one glorious second, that he wasn't living his last moments with her. The heat of her palms mingled with the heat coming from his face, and he felt a solitary tear roll down his cheek.

'Draco…' her voice had lost all dreamy quality, and instead something big, something huge and scary had taken its place. He had the childish impulse to press his hands to his ears and block out her voice.

It was destroying him, having her so near and yet so far. She loved another one, and even if she didn't, he wouldn't have stood a chance. He simply couldn't measure up to what Luna deserved, there was no point in pretending anymore.

Fuck it all. He was tired of waiting.

Step two, a confession. Step three, rejection. He knew how this story was going to end.

'Luna… the reason why I didn't go with my parents…'

She cut him off.

'I know. I know why you did it. I'm in love too' she whispered, as if she was telling a secret.

And there it was again, her secret love. Well, step two had gone surprisingly quickly. He was now prepared for step three.

He wrenched himself away from her, standing shakily up and looking down at her. She had left her hands fall to her lap, and she was looking at him with a mix of confusion and the huge, scary ass thing he didn't want to name.

He tried to control the beating of his heart, and the voice in his head repeating _step three, rejection. Step three, rejection_ over and over again, to no avail.

However, before he let what was left of his heart be crushed like a paper ball, he wanted to know. He wanted to know who the man that Luna loved was. Because damnit if some part of him didn't want to go and kill said man and impersonate him for the rest of his life.

However, another part of him just hated being in the dark. And he had been in the dark long enough. He wanted to know who this secret love was, _now._

'In love with who? With who?' a terrible thought crossed his mind, and he was sure the expression on his face was nearly comical 'Please tell me it's not Longbottom. Oh Merlin, please no. Everyone else but him'

Her laugh interrupted his babbling, and he looked, mildly offended, as she laughed, clutching her sides.

_Step three, rejection_

'Draco, oh Draco, the Nargles have taken hold of your brain!'

He was enough versed in Luna-language to know that equaled to him being a stupid fool. Oh well, that was hardly news.

Her laughter died down to giggling after a while, and she managed to say.

'It's not Longbottom, Draco. The person I'm in love with has protected me for a very long time. I told you that already. I wasn't afraid, because I knew he'd protect me, no matter what, even if it got him killed, which I wasn't very happy about.'

He racked a hand through his hair. There was something he was missing, but he could think of it later. Right now he had to _know_.

'Oh, Luna, come on! Who is it? And where the hell has this mystery man been? Eh?' he was almost shouting now, but Luna was looking at him with a small smile, that smile that he thought she reserved only for him. Why was she smiling like that? 'When was he in fifth year, when you ran so carelessly around the school with that secret club? I'm surprised nobody reported you earlier! And when you needed help with your homework, where was he?' Luna was still looking at him, not saying anything, that smile still on her face, and it was driving him bonkers 'Where was he this year when you were captured? When you spent weeks in a cellar, my cellar, for fuck's sake! Where was he when-'

Oh.

Oh.

_Oh._

His breathing caught in his throat, and he looked at Luna, eyes wide. Her smile widened, nodding slowly, and he felt his mouth open and close like a fish, but no sound was coming out.

But it couldn't be.

It couldn't.

No.

_No._

Luna stepped towards him, and he vaguely registered he had began to move backwards during his rant.

'He was there. He was always there.' She said, standing inches away from him. She had never had much concept of personal space before, but this was something else. '_You_ were always there'

No.

It couldn't be.

He-

He felt rather sick, actually. It probably had something to do with the fact that he had forgotten how to breathe, or blink, or do something else than gaping like a retarded fish, but who could really blame him?

'So, that means' his voice sounded oddly high pitched. 'That means that I am – that I am-'

'Yes' she cut him, and he huffed.

'Would you stop interrupting me when I'm trying to discover something important?'

'Would you stop jumping to conclusions before I explain them?' she shot right back, and he smiled.

'But are you sure? Because I –' he wanted to tell her how damaged he was, how unworthy of her love and her affection and everything she was offering he was, but she didn't let her finish, again.

'Of course I'm sure, you stupid fool'

'On your head be it, lunatic girl'

They smiled goofily at each other for a second.

Then his hands where on her hips, drawing her closer, and her hands had found his hair, and the next second his lips were crashing against hers. He couldn't think. He couldn't even breathe, but good lord, he didn't want to stop. Not ever.

He held her against him, drinking her in, committing her to memory, and between kisses he gasped onto her lips and her skin every single thing he'd bottled up inside for two years.

_Your smile is contagious._ He ran his hands along her arms, feeling the goosebumps on her skin. _Your hair smells nice all the time._ The air around them seemed to crack with electricity. _You are still hypnotic._ At that she chuckled against his lips, making him shiver. _You were what made me lower my wand, back in the tower._ She wound her arms tighter against him, caressing his hair and breaking the kiss to look at him straight in the eyes.

He whispered a thousand little nothings against her lips, her neck, her cheeks, and she whispered a thousand back, holding onto him. And with each one, he let go of another piece of darkness, another piece of longing and sadness and doubt and loneliness until there was nothing left but the bright feeling of her smile against his own, and her hands weaved into his hair.

Then, and only then, did he say it, and she said it right back, said it with him, over and over again, the Slytherin Prince and the Lunatic Ravenclaw, together.

_I love you. I love you. I love you._

* * *

IT IS OVER.

Oh my God, I cried. I swear I cried writing this chapter. I didn't want it to end. I really didn't.

I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did, and please don't forget to review, even if it's been atrociously long since I updated and half of you want to murder me with a spoon for delaying it so much time. I have no excuses.

This whole story is dedicated to **Lucy** (you know who you are), because even if she's an ocean away, she still takes the time to read my stupid stories. Come back soon, honey!

Thanks to all of you who reviewed, favorited or put this story on alert, I am so, so grateful, you can't even imagine. I would've never gotten so far without you :)

Special thanks go to my two most faithful reviewers: **Sepsis**, as always, for leaving me the most wonderful reviews (seriously girl, you rock!) and to **princessmaofoz**, for pushing me to keep writing and never getting tired of this story, even after the loooong waits.

One more thing. One more, VERY important thing. Although this story is over, and I won't be posting more chapters, because it is over, done, finished, I did say I had a special surprise for the 170th reviewer, who is…**PRINCESSMAOFOZ**! And the special surprise is that you get to decide if I write a oneshot about this story. You also get to decide the setting. It can be any missing moment from the story, or a prologue, or an epilogue, whatever. Just tell me in a review and I'll write.

The one shot should be up before the end of summer, if anyone is interested, but I'll try to come back and post something in here with the name or a link.

Thank you all again, have a great summer, and don't forget to review (extra points if you can tell me where the quote from **DOCTOR WHO** is!)

P.S. Try to watch Deathly Hallows Part 2 again without bursting into tears when Draco joins his parents. I tried to, and I failed. All I could think was BABY NO, YOU HAVE TO STAY WITH LUNA, SHE'S RIGHT THERE, NO DRACO DON'T GO! NOOO!

:)


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